The readiness potential and the soul: what happens when you resect their seat in the brain?

Abstract

Libet’s demonstration that activity in the supplementary motor area precedes conscious decision making is widely considered to have put the final nail in the coffin of dualism. Neurosurgeon Rickard Sjöberg argues that SMA resections show that Libet’s findings are in fact irrelevant to the neuroscientific discussion about free will.