Michael Gazzaniga: "Who's in Charge: Free Will and the Science of the Brain"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-11-28/michael-gazzaniga-whos-charge-free-will-and-science-brain
Recent research in neuroscience suggests that much of what we do is hard wired.It’s tempting to believe that further research will eventually demonstrate that physical properties of the brain fully control the human mind. But neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga argues we already have enough data to conclude that human behavior is not fully predetermined. He claims that a sense of responsibility, for instance, derives not from within a single brain, but from social interaction. Please join us for a conversation with Michael Gazzaniga on the concept of free will and the science of the brain.
Guests
Michael Gazzaniga
director of the SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind at the University of California, Santa Barbara; president of the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute; and founding director of the MacArthur Foundation’s Law and Neuroscience Project.
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Program Highlights
Advances in neuroscience point to an ever more complex system, and a system that operates almost completely beneath our consciousness. But in a new book, neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga argues that not all of our thoughts and actions stem from cell-to-cell events. He explains why he believes social interaction plays a critical role.
Some Major Misconceptions About the Brain
About 60 years ago, scientists thought that the brain was basically a blank slate, or, as Gazzaniga puts it, "a big piece of putty." Gazzaniga's mentor, Roger Sperry, showed that neurons grow in particular ways to get to specific parts of the brain - which demonstrated that the brain is already structured, rather than a blank slate. Developmental psychologists then began demonstrating that babies, at a very young age, have concepts of social interactions like reciprocity and retribution. "We come with a lot of complexities built in," Gazzaniga said.
Dividing the Hemispheres
Decades ago, doctors sometimes treated epilepsy by severing the connection between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Observing such patients made it obvious that one hemisphere is not aware of what the other is doing. There's a special part of the left brain that scientists call "the interpreter," and it tries to make sense of all the behaviors and mood modulations that one experiences from moment to moment. "The reason we think we're free and acting of our own free will is this thing says, well, who else is doing this. I must be doing it," Gazzaniga said. "This thing is very strongly present in all of us, which is why we find it so hard and difficult to think that all of our actions are really being organized by a rather automatic brain process."
Are All Human Brains Basically The Same?
Though there are certain aspects of the brain that are common to many of us, like "the interpreter," and there may be a general plan that is the same, Gazzaniga said that there are many differences from one human brain to another. "The large layout is identical, but the individual wires are completely changed," he said. "People think, very confidently, that ultimately the differences between you and your personality and me and my personality will be discovered in knowledge of those minute connections."
A Life in Science "The Greatest Life There Is"
Gazzaniga started out as a young neuroscientist wanting to figure out how neurons get to their specific points. Roger Sperry and his team were just starting to study the phenomenon in humans, so Gazzaniga had the first-ever opportunity to focus on it in people. "There's nothing like
doing an experiment and showing a relationship...there are points where you make a discovery and you know something about nature that no one else knows for a few months, years, moments, whatever it is," Gazzaniga said.
You can read the full transcript here.
Comments
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On page 103 Dr. Gazzaniga observed that "popped" is a past tense verb supporting his view that the narrative composed by the left hemisphere to explain an action generated at the subconscious level--no dispute there; but "have poppped" is actually a present perfect tense verb. The sense of present perfect is that the action is complete at the instant of the statement, no time lag between act and statement while the simple past tense verb implies an act occurring at some indefinite time in the past--action, time lag, and then narrative.
There's brain like tissue in your heart muscles and you can follow that all the way down to your feet, the food you eat and the people you meet, and you can even compromise/expand your MIND for the ultimate feat, to compose a poem in a language beyond and still keep it neat, and as a baby drinks milk you will require _needs_ uber-fantastic.
Society is your posture and geography your seat! but with brain power we can propose the quantum destiny and repeat.
but youth are indeed the seed. Liberate the soul and the brain will compete and in that location your mind is complete Stimulate the kind and never defeat.
" "
Free Will occupies the same place in Psychology and Neuroscience as Creationism does in Biology.
It grows more and more meaningless as better explanations of behavior develop.
Soon enough, it won't be a question of "how will society operate without Free Will"; society will simply discover it has done without Free Will all along.
That will be a great day.
Haven't we decided, a long time ago, the answer to "Is it nature or nurture?"
It's BOTH!!
Certainly, it is both nature and nurture. But neither of these is Free Will.
Thanks alardin for neatly summing up some really technical observations :)
Plasticity constitutes a key feature of our brain. The nerve cells are able to adjust their connectivity according to the feedback that our experiences provide, more during development and less in maturity. Since our personal experiences vary greatly, each brain is unique.
Read more about brain plasticity here:
http://brainmindinst.blogspot.com/2011/01/brain-plasticity-mind.html
I have multiple personalities. Hard to explain, but I am a bilingual person, learned English in my early teens. Now, I've recently realized, depending on which gear my train of thought ios running (English or Spanish) I am a different person. My political views, my taste in music and women, my moral character, and many other aspects of my personality vary to one degree or another while I am engaged in either one language or the other. i find this really interesting and have taken note of it recently. Maybe this is something relevant to the conversation, I'd definitely love a professional's take on this. Thank you Dianne, always a fan [both of me :)]
Thank-you for calling my attention to this book. I am a mother of a 19 year old who is severely challenged with Autism. She struggles with the use of language, both in interpreting her environment & expressing herself. She loves music and we have always used it in behavioral therapy & to help her defuse her stress. Continued research and study of the brain only means more professionals validating what works best and why! May scientific study continue! Thanks again.
I was wondering if the guest has any comments about chemical dependency such as serious alcoholism and free will.
Fascinating show! What does your guest believe about the existence of dissociative states?
Sherry, IL
As a long time Montessori practitioner I think that as modern lifestyles continue to be radically different from past generations, we MUST begin to understand the impact of environment, language and culture, (especially as they are responsive to the child’s individual genetic drives and talents) in the development of our cognitive structures.
The lack of interest in mathematics and engineering for so many of today’s student is a direct result of the lack of early preparation for the mathematical mind (with the disappearance of activitiest that have existed naturally for previous generations). For example, inherent in the activity of throwing a ball are concepts such as force, trajectory, thrust, etc. Building a club or tree house, or a soap box derby car includes concepts of physics and geometry (and using weights and counter weights, gathering correctly sized materials, etc.). Spontaneous games required cooperative rule making, negotiations, impulse control, etc. However, today’s children are not playing outside…they are not designing their own time, they are not experimenting with real objects or have a large consortium of playmates (both siblings and neighbors), they are not working alongside multigenerations of family member on farms or businesses (osberving required orders of operations -such as wash, rinse, dry...and the ordering of tools needed to perform a given task, etc.) that help to facilitate the development of the brain as it absorbs procedural and conceptual knowledge during critical sensitive periods.
Just as we understand that modern sedentary life requires the conscious addition of exercise for adults, we must realize the need to create intentional environments that provide essential developmental activities for our children.
I find it fortunate that Dr. Gazzaniga is from UCSB. If he is familiar with Dr. Bouwmeester at UCSB, I am interested to know Dr. Gazzaniga's opinion on the Penrose Hameroff conjecture on the nature of consciousness. Thanks in advance.
Past actions determine the present; present actions determine the future.
Contrary to today's guest last statement, history tells that free will exists in each of us as well as in us as a collective. I provide one raucous example:
http://brainmindinst.blogspot.com/2008/06/morat-triumph-of-free-will.html
No functional brain scans, no brain wave recordings could have predicted the outcome of this type of situation.
Unpredictability is no indicator or Free Will. That is part of the problem of Free Will. It is a notion, not a theory. It predicts nothing, it explains no process.
But like the notion of Intelligent Design, the likelihood of an autonomous self operating by Free Will (not governed by genetics, bio-chemistry, conditioning, and opportunity) is becoming completely outmoded. No serious scientist will find any illumination by employing it.
It is not necessary to lapse into dualism or any other mysterious stuff to find the issue of free will interesting and practically important. The question in fact becomes particularly important in a world where we understand that all is physics and chemistry - where does individual responsibility start and stop? We already recognize legal defenses of "diminished capacity" in cases where peoples' brains ar so screwed up that it is unreasonable to hold them fully accountable for their actions. Just as surely, even though all is physics and chemistry, we do not consider all actions to be so determined that the "individual" has no responsibility. Neuroscience recognizes the distinction between "hard problems" (e.g., subjective consciousness) and "easy ones" (physiology, anatomy, certain functions). It is not at all clear that the issues around free will will fall into the "easy" category, and the practical (moral, ethical) if not theoretical implications mean that, confidence in science notwithstanding, it will still be important to think seriously about these things.
In the 50s and 60s L. Ron Hubbard researched this problem and wrote several important books on the subject. One is called The Science of Survival where he shows that the mind is not part of the brain but is part of a spirit. Without considering the existence of a spirit nothing makes sense. The brain is a complex machine but the director of this wonderful machine is the spirit. An analogy would be the relationship between a car and a driver. Trying to understand the car without understanding the driver is impossible.
It frustrates me that you are talking about free will when most people haven't even accepted the fact that brain chemistry can affect your actions. I went through all sorts of therapy with my 8 year old son because he had behavior problems, suffered from anxiety, and had regular tantrums. People said he would outgrow this by seeing the way his peers reacted negatively to his actions. Finally, after all sorts of reward programs and changes in parenting, I took him to a psychiatrist who put him on prozac.
He is now a different child. It is as if a giant burden was taken off of him and he is allowed to be a sweet, normal boy. He is still energetic, silly, and sometimes gets angry, but he readily admits that he feels much better and more in control.
Please remind your listeners that although free will plays a part in behavior, we have a lot of work to do to remove the stigma associated with getting medicinal help for mental health.
There was this PBS series that ran on Sunday mornings on one of my local channels with a title that included the words "God, consciousness and cosmos." One episode interviewed some, in my opinion, stellar experts, and concerned free-will and predictability giving the example of a brick headed at someone. I'm pretty sure it was Dr. Bouwmeester, but the interviewee gentleman replied: the better way to consider this is in terms chance and necessity (or words to that effect).
Contraire. . narrow-minded, but otherwise intelligent fellow. A missing component of this argument is that we know almost nothing about the brain. Given this reality, it would be premature (in the argument) to assume that brain does not detect, or interact with other brains.
While nobody. . and I mean. .nobody wants to go there. .. were not far off from being able to test this. . .and realize this . .as reality. So there's your social consciousness, and therein lies the influenced decision, though this anomaly of thought will push peoples' wills in different directions.
I've written a book called MENTAL INFLUENCE (An Applied Study of the Transfer of Thought). 25 years of actual events. . .which are hard to refute.
(It's not science. .. yet.) And for a long time the world was certainly flat.
http://www.amazon.com/Mental-Influence-Douglas-daBoone-Johnson/dp/098409...
What Michael is doing is very exciting. My work is similar in the sense that it is based on brain and mind relationship but is based on common sense derived from science, religion, philosophy, mythology etc. Please google, '4th r foundation' to review my 1000+ articles on human nature, brain, mind, self, consciousness, wisdom etc.
Many of the this-worldly realities we treat as other-worldly are only due to our ignorance of the true nature of our brains and minds. The limits of our understanding about the next world is mixed up with our limited understanding of this world. Please take a closer look at our 4th R Foundation's wisdom/emotional intelligence proposals.
Much that should be common place and normal is considered sublime only because of our ignorance.
Having a clear understanding of the brain and mind will answer many of the questions of philosophy and clear up much of the ignorance that keeps us away from a sublime life. Much that is considered sublime and out of reach today can become common place and normal everyday life.
Again by clearly defining the brain and mind we can scientifically answer the question of how to explain and standardize moral values. It is very simple; we can base our moral values on the quality of the character traits of the super mature brain/mind/self/self-image. Do good because it is the super mature/wise behavior. Do not commit evil because it is the premature (one peg below even immature)/ignorant behavior.
Please google:
Knowing the difference between the brain and mind through
by sajid khan
"Message to President Obama..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=objrnqUnIBs&feature=channel_video_title
"A Message for Bill Gates"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLc4jzuPS98&feature=channel_video_title
"Practical application of quantification of the Mind"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmzwj-W8Mww&feature=channel_video_title
All this is very interesting.
I have invented a philosophy based on science, latest neuroscience researches and yoga and I have posted on Free Will on my blog: " Free Will is a choice in the long run".
My point is that every one can construct one's self to be able to become a Free Will Human.
Homo Equilibrium - Next Stage in Human Evolution