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SUMMARY:Volition and Agency - Professor Patrick Haggard\, Professor of Cog
 nitive Neuroscience\, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience\, University Col
 lege London
DTSTART:20130117T153000Z
DTEND:20130117T163000Z
UID:TALK41850@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Louise White
DESCRIPTION:Human action can be considered in two very different ways.  On
 e approach views actions as the consequence of conscious thought by ration
 al agents.  This view dominates in philosophy. In contrast\, neurobiology 
 views actions as the consequence of neural activity in motor areas of the 
 brain.  The key point on which they differ seems to be the relation betwee
 n the processes that generate action\, and the experience of conscious int
 ention.  Historically\, psychology has vacillated between these two views\
 , or retreated to behaviourist positions that simply dismiss the concept o
 f volition.  In this talk\, I will investigate the neurobiological mechani
 sms underlying voluntary action generation\, focussing particularly on the
  brain processes underlying decisions about what to do\, and when to do it
 \, in situations where no external stimulus guides these decisions.  I wil
 l then consider the relation between voluntary action generation and the s
 ense of agency.  Finally\, I will consider whether the human experience of
  voluntary action could have any functional role in neural control of beha
 viour\, or is purely epiphenomenal.\n
LOCATION:Lecture Theatre\, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit\, 15 Chau
 cer Road\, Cambridge
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