Scientists Spot Brain's 'Free Will' Center

It helps people refrain from actions good and bad, experts say

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

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THURSDAY, Aug. 23 (HealthDay News) -- If you've ever been of "two minds" about doing something, a new study may explain why.

Scientists say one part of the brain is responsible for initiating action, while a totally separate area is in charge of not taking that action.

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This newly identified region, involved in an aspect of self-control, may change conceptions of human free will, the researchers said. It could also explain the basis of impulsive as well as reluctant behavior, they added.

"The central issue is quite simple. If we want to do something, and we decide not to, how does that brain wire that?" said Rajesh Miranda, associate professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. "They showed the region in the brain that can act as a gate to suppress a plan to do something," said Miranda, who was not involved in the research.

"The big search in neuroscience is, are there general inhibiting or specific inhibiting circuits?" added another outside expert, Dr. John Hart, a spokesman for the American Academy of Neurology and a behavioral neurologist and cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Texas at Dallas. "This is another piece of the puzzle. . . . but does it generalize beyond that task to all life decisions? That has yet to be shown," he said.

This study and others like it are really in their infancy, Miranda pointed out. That's important to remember, since the findings could one day have legal and other implications.

"This kind of data could have implications for legal definitions of 'diminished capacity,' " he explained. "There's a potential for informing legal definitions of mental illness and things like that."

The study, which was published in the Aug. 22 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, was conducted by researchers from University College London, in the United Kingdom, the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, and Ghent University, Belgium.

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