Department of Psychological Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conscious Cogn. 2010 Mar;19(1):447-56. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2009.08.006. Epub 2009 Sep 6.
Benjamin Libet has argued that electrophysiological signs of cortical movement preparation are present before people report having made a conscious decision to move, and that these signs constitute evidence that voluntary movements are initiated unconsciously. This controversial conclusion depends critically on the assumption that the electrophysiological signs recorded by Libet, Gleason, Wright, and Pearl (1983) are associated only with preparation for movement. We tested that assumption by comparing the electrophysiological signs before a decision to move with signs present before a decision not to move. There was no evidence of stronger electrophysiological signs before a decision to move than before a decision not to move, so these signs clearly are not specific to movement preparation. We conclude that Libet's results do not provide evidence that voluntary movements are initiated unconsciously.
本杰明·利贝特（Benjamin Libet）认为，在人们报告有意识地决定移动之前，大脑皮层运动准备的电生理迹象就已经存在，而这些迹象表明，自愿运动是无意识发起的。这一有争议的结论严重依赖于利贝特、格里森、赖特和珀尔（1983 年）记录的电生理信号仅与运动准备相关的假设。我们通过比较移动决策前的电生理信号与不移动决策前的电生理信号来检验这一假设。在移动决策前没有比不移动决策前更强的电生理信号，因此这些信号显然不是专门用于运动准备的。我们的结论是，利贝特的研究结果并没有提供自愿运动是无意识发起的证据。
