In it Claxton writes of experiments that prove our brains tell us
what to do beforewe consciously decide to do it. In one famous ex-
periment a neuroscientist named Benjamin Libet hooked people up
to an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine, which showed what
was happening in their brains. It revealed that a surge of brain activity
took place beforethe person had the conscious intention to do some-
thing, suggesting that the intention came from the unconscious, and
thenentered conscious awareness.
Claxton writes that Libet “discovered that the intention to move
appeared about a fifth of a second before the movement began—but
that a surge of activity in the brain reliably appeared about a third of
a second before the intention!”
According to William Irvine, in his book,On Desire: Why We
Want What We Want, “Experiments such as these suggest that our
choices are not formed in a conscious, rational manner. Instead, they
bubble up from our unconscious mind, and when they finally reach
the surface of consciousness we take ownership of them.”
And Benjamin Libet himself, the man who ran the controversial
and revealing experiments, wrote in his book,Mind Time: “The un-
conscious appearance of an intention to act could not be controlled
consciously. Only its final consummation in a motor act could be
consciously controlled.”
In other words, the urge to pick up this book may seem like it
came from your conscious choice, but in reality your brain first sent a
signal to pick it up and thenyour conscious mind followed with a stated
intention, something like, “This book looks interesting. I think I’ll pick
it up.” You could have chosen to not pick up this book, which you
would have rationalized in some other way, but you could not control
the origin of signal itself that was nudging you to take action.
I know this is hard to believe. According to Claxton, “No inten-
tion is ever hatched in consciousness; no plan ever laid there. Inten-
tions are premonitions; icons that flash in the corners of
consciousness to indicate what may be about to occur.”The Shocking Truth about Intentions 33ccc_zero_027-038_shoc.qxd 5/4/07 12:39 PM Page 33