The Neurocognitive Bases of Human Volition.
Open accessAbstract
Volition refers to a capacity for endogenous action, particularly goal-directed endogenous action, shared by humans and some other animals. It has long been controversial whether a specific set of cognitive processes for volition exist in the human brain, and much scientific thinking on the topic continues to revolve around traditional metaphysical debates about free will. At its origins, scientific psychology had a strong engagement with volition. This was followed by a period of disenchantment, or even outright hostility, during the second half of the twentieth century. In this review, I aim to reinvigorate the scientific approach to volition by, first, proposing a range of different features that constitute a new, neurocognitively realistic working definition of volition. I then focus on three core features of human volition: its generativity (the capacity to trigger actions), its subjectivity (the conscious experiences associated with initiating voluntary actions), and its teleology (the goal-directed quality of some voluntary actions). I conclude that volition is a neurocognitive process of enormous societal importance and susceptible to scientific investigation.
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The idea that the skull marks a meaningful divide behind which a sacrosanct conscious agent orchestrates behaviour is extremely difficult to maintain in the face of philosophical, theoretical, and empirical objections.
“In the case of free will, the idea that the skull marks a meaningful divide behind which some sacrosanct conscious agent orchestrates behaviour is extremely difficult to maintain in the face of philosophical, theoretical, and empirical objections [64,76–78].”
From Ethical considerations for the use of brain–computer interfaces for cognitive enhancement (2024) · cites this paper as [78]
Section 6 says evidence from the Libet experiment rules out a Cartesian view in which conscious intention triggers the brain activity leading to movement; Section 2.5 likewise describes conscious volition as a consequence rather than a cause of neural activity. The paper does not address the claimed skull boundary or establish that philosophical, theoretical, and empirical objections collectively make the broader idea untenable. Its conclusion explicitly leaves open whether people have conscious free will. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Interplay of tactile and motor information in constructing spatial self-perception
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International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry
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Meaning and Cognition: A Unified Approach to Meaning-Making
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Cocaine falls into oblivion during volitional initiation of choice trials
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Can neuroscience enlighten the philosophical debate about free will?
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Volition and “free will”Preprint
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Theta but not beta activity is modulated by freedom of choice during action selection
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The Unceremonious Death of Free WillPreprint
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- Authors
- Haggard, P.
- Affiliations
- University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Haggard, Patrick
- ORCID
- Haggard, Patrick
- Venue
- Annual Review of Psychology
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2019-01-04
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 9-28
- ISSN
- 0066-4308 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-2085
- OpenAlex
- W2888599222
- Cited by
- 126
- References
- 85
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 1.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Annual Review of Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Leverhulme Trust (RPG‐2016‐378)
- Conseil Régional, Île-de-France
- FP7 Ideas: European Research Council (323943)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Free Will and Agency
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
- Keywords
- volition, free will, goal-directed action, voluntary action, subjective experience, generativity, teleology, history of psychology
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Goals, Humans, Neuropsychology, Volition
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