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I'm confused about the conclusion. The way you laid it out, it seems that it could well just be electric signals from the conscious mind triggering the carousel
by dan_mctree 4y ago
I'm confused about the conclusion. The way you laid it out, it seems that it could well just be electric signals from the conscious mind triggering the carousel. In which case the experiment would just show that the conscious thought happens first and the body movement after. The subjective experience of it being just before they were going to press the button, could just be explained by a correct built in assumption that every action takes some time
- Grustaf 4y agoYes, that's exactly what it sounds like to me. They have "decided" to press the button, but the body hasn't yet followed the instruction. This situation will of course feel weird and unusual, but I don't think it says anything about consciousness being an illusion, whatever that might even mean.
- adamsmith143 4y agoThis just isn't the right interpretation. How can you have made a conscious choice before you were aware you made it. In another similar experiment the subjects were told to choose one of two buttons to press and to take note of when they had decided. In all cases the experimenters were able to not only know when the decision was made, well before the subject noted they had decided, but also could predict what button they would press with some accuracy. https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.2112 https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.2112