The Evidence on Conscious Choice

Distinguish between choice and conscious choice: it is conscious when the path taken is preceded by consciously cogitating about what to do. While many behaviors (e.g., breathing and jumping out of a truck’s path) are not preceded by a choosing experience, we endlessly cogitate about what to do. Nevertheless, the neurological evidence, starting in the 80s, demonstrates that before you consciously think about what to do, neural activity can be observed that predicts what you will do—activity you are unaware of—implying your choosing experience did not influence what you did next. You experience the illusion of choice. I review the neurological and psychological research. Our beliefs about why we do what we do are easily distorted. [My reasons for why I use Tide laundry detergent and why I married Wanda might be self-serving fiction.] While choice does not require conscious choice, it is disconcerting to imagine we don’t know why we do what we do. We believe our choosing experiences affect our behavior: our sense of self would be diminished if we did not, also our sense of agency. Note that there is nothing in NBT that requires either a choosing experience or that it affects behavior.