Individual differences in attributional style but not in interoceptive sensitivity, predict subjective estimates of action intention
The debate on the existence of free will is on-going. Seminal findings by Libet et al. (1983) demonstrate that subjective awareness of a voluntary urge to act (the W-judgment) occurs before action execution. Libet's paradigm requires participants to perform voluntary actions while watching a cl...
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| Published in: | Frontiers in human neuroscience Vol. 8; p. 638 |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Switzerland
Frontiers Research Foundation
19-08-2014
Frontiers Media S.A |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | The debate on the existence of free will is on-going. Seminal findings by Libet et al. (1983) demonstrate that subjective awareness of a voluntary urge to act (the W-judgment) occurs before action execution. Libet's paradigm requires participants to perform voluntary actions while watching a clock hand rotate. On response trials, participants make a retrospective judgment related to awareness of their urge to act. This research investigates the relationship between individual differences in performance on the Libet task and self-awareness. We examined the relationship between W-judgment, attributional style (AS; a measure of perceived control) and interoceptive sensitivity (IS; awareness of stimuli originating from one's body; e.g., heartbeats). Thirty participants completed the AS questionnaire (ASQ), a heartbeat estimation task (IS), and the Libet paradigm. The ASQ score significantly predicted performance on the Libet task, while IS did not - more negative ASQ scores indicated larger latency between W-judgment and action execution. A significant correlation was also observed between ASQ score and IS. This is the first research to report a relationship between W-judgment and AS and should inform the future use of electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the relationship between AS, W-judgment and RP onset. Our findings raise questions surrounding the importance of one's perceived control in determining the point of conscious intention to act. Furthermore, we demonstrate possible negative implications associated with a longer period between conscious awareness and action execution. |
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| Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Reviewed by: Gethin Hughes, University of Essex, UK; Vivien Ainley, Royal Holloway University of London, UK Edited by: Nicole David, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany This article was submitted to the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. |
| ISSN: | 1662-5161 1662-5161 |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00638 |