> If the decision precedes it, then free will does not exist (and in my opinion cannot). One of the problems I have with the Libet experiment is that the subje

> If the decision precedes it, then free will does not exist (and in my opinion cannot). One of the problems I have with the Libet experiment is that the subject-reported awareness of conscious thought time is assumed to be accurate. But how can it be? The subject is being asked to move their hand. That takes a conscious effort. But the subject is also being asked to monitor thinking about moving their hand. That's a whole new task. Then they're being asked to report on their memory of thinking about moving their hand. Yet another task. Normally when you move your hand, you just move it without the additional perceptions of "I am now thinking about moving my hand. I am now going to tell someone of the moment that I became aware of thinking about my hand." We don't normally reflect upon our motor movements in such a fashion. If you stopped to reflect upon each step before you took it, you'd be tripping on yourself all the time. So the reporting task is an unnatural and artificial burden above and beyond our normal mode of thought. I would contend that the extra tasks introduce a delay in the subject's self-awareness because the subject has to now additionally wait for the constructive thought "observing myself in the act of thinking about moving my hand" to rise to the threshold wherein that thought becomes part of the internal monologue of the conscious mind. On top of that, perhaps the mind plays a trick on itself regarding conscious thought. When your eyes quickly saccade from one spot to another, there is motion blur, but you don't perceive it; your mind edits it out since it conveys no useful information about the world. Similarly, when you are contemplating taking an action, your brain has to make certain calculations before it can execute that action. Your motor cortex needs to communicate with the frontal lobe and the parietal lobe. You need to refer to past calculations of similar movements so that you don't overshoot or miss the mark. All of that takes time. Perhaps the brain edits out that time because it would be wasteful and non-productive to monitor the experience of "thought delays."