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Psychol Med. 2014 Sep;44(12):2465-74. doi: 10.1017/S0033291713002985. Epub 2013 Dec 13.
Belief in free will has been a mainstay in philosophy throughout history, grounded in large part in our intuitive sense that we consciously control our actions and could have done otherwise. However, psychology and psychiatry have long sought to uncover mechanistic explanations for human behavior that challenge the notion of free will. In recent years, neuroscientific discoveries have produced a model of volitional behavior that is at odds with the notion of contra-causal free will and our sense of conscious agency. Volitional behavior instead appears to have antecedents in unconscious brain activity that is localizable to specific neuroanatomical structures. Updating notions of free will in favor of a continuous model of volitional self-control provides a useful paradigm to conceptualize and study some forms of psychopathology such as addiction and impulse control disorders. Similarly, thinking of specific symptoms of schizophrenia as disorders of agency may help to elucidate mechanisms of psychosis. Beyond clinical understanding and etiological research, a neuroscientific model of volitional behavior has the potential to modernize forensic notions of responsibility and criminal punishment in order to inform public policy. Ultimately, moving away from the language of free will towards the language of volitional control may result in an enhanced understanding of the very nature of ourselves.
自由意志的信念在整个哲学史上一直是一个主要支柱，这在很大程度上基于我们的直觉，即我们有意识地控制自己的行为，并且本来可以有其他选择。然而，心理学和精神病学长期以来一直试图揭示人类行为的机械论解释，这些解释挑战了自由意志的概念。近年来，神经科学的发现产生了一种意志行为的模型，与反因果自由意志的概念和我们的意识能动性的感觉不一致。相反，意志行为似乎以前就存在于可定位到特定神经解剖结构的无意识大脑活动中。更新自由意志的概念，转而支持意志自我控制的连续模型，为理解和研究某些形式的精神病理学（如成瘾和冲动控制障碍）提供了一个有用的范例。同样，将精神分裂症的特定症状视为代理障碍的想法，可能有助于阐明精神病的机制。除了临床理解和病因研究，意志行为的神经科学模型有可能使法医对责任和刑事处罚的观念现代化，以便为公共政策提供信息。最终，远离自由意志的语言，转向意志控制的语言，可能会使我们对自身的本质有更深入的了解。
