This is the first part in a four part series on the science of free will. First, some history. Though philosophers have debated free will for over 2000 years, scientists only began to take it on ...

You might feel that you have the ability to make choices, decisions and plans — and the freedom to change your mind at any point if you so desire — but many psychologists and scientists would tell you ...

The results of Libet's experiments have generated a lot of controversy about free will, and some neurophysiologists have even concluded that it does not exist. Moreover, Libet's experiment has been ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American In the second half of the 19th century, ...

Free will experiments may not explain whether we are in charge of our destinies – but they can nevertheless reveal just how little we know about our own minds, says Tom Stafford. It is perhaps the ...

Instead, in order to have an updated discussion of free will, it is now necessary to account for objective findings arising from experimental studies. These studies begin with the work of Benjamin ...

Two decades ago, a neuroscientist named Benjamin Libet published a classic experiment on conscious will. He had his subjects rest a finger on a button as they stared at a specially designed clock. It ...

Does something like "free will" really exist? We often take it for granted, but philosophers, psychologists and neuroscientists have debated the issue for decades—if not centuries. In his recent Ph.D.