The Will and its Brain

An Appraisal of Reasoned Free Will

Hans Helmut Kornhuber, Lüder Deecke

• Publisher: University Press of America
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9780761858577
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

In 1964–1965, Hans Helmut Kornhuber and Lüder Deecke achieved a scientific breakthrough with the discovery of the Bereitschaftspotential (BP), or readiness potential. In The Will and its Brain, Kornhuber and Deecke present evidence that proves we can record activity from the human brain occurring prior to our volitional movements or actions. Such preparatory activity is generated by specific brain regions, particularly by the supplementary motor area (SMA) of the frontal lobe, which lies on the inner surface of the brain between the hemispheres. The primary (precentral) motor cortex (MI) later becomes activated in preparing for action. Consequently, the authors discriminate between two components of the preparatory activity of the Bereitschaftspotential: an early SMA-generated BP1 and a late MI-derived BP2. Between BP1 and BP2, the intentional activity runs over the so-called motor loop via the basal ganglia. Kornhuber and Deecke discuss these and other brain processing systems while focusing on the concept of free will. They claim that we, indeed, have free will. It may not be absolutely free, but free in terms of degrees. We can take efforts to increase our degrees of freedom through self-improvement, but we can also lose degrees of freedom through self-mismanagement.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Key Words
• Foreword
• Preface
• Preface to the German Edition
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Will—History and Transcultural Aspects
• Chapter 2: The Will—Its Association with Freedom
• Chapter 3: The Will and Psychiatry/Psychology
• Chapter 4: The Will and Neurophysiology/Brain Research
• Chapter 5: The Will and New Psychology Schools
• Chapter 6: The Will and the Real Function of the Frontal Lobe
• Chapter 7: The Will and the Evolution of Man
• Chapter 8: The Will and Dream Sleep, Feelings, Drives, Meaning-Happiness, Beauty, Love, Empathy and Theory of Mind
• Chapter 9: The Will and the Limbic System, the Hypothalamus, the Arousal System, Circadian Rhythm, the Endocrine System, Fatigue and Impetus
• Chapter 10: The Will Is Not Strictly Coupled with Consciousness
• Chapter 11: The Will—Is It Grounded upon Freedom or upon Total Determinism?
• Chapter 12: The Will—Its Freedom Is Not a Priori Granted: We Have to Do Something for It—Actively Increasing Our Degrees of Freedom
• Summary
• Bibliography