Researchers report a study of brain lesions that identifies regions tied to volition and agency, which are components of free will. Loss of function due to brain lesions can provide insight into the functions of the affected regions. Researchers seeking to identify brain centers of free will have focused on two aspects: volition, or intentionality, and agency, or a feeling of responsibility for one's actions. R. Ryan Darby, Michael Fox, and colleagues compiled results of 28 studies of lesions resulting in disordered volition and 50 studies of lesions resulting in disordered agency. Though the lesions were in various parts of the brain, examining the connectivity of the affected regions revealed consistent connections. Lesions in people with akinetic mutism, a disorder of volition, connected to the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas lesions in people with alien limb syndrome, a disorder of agency, fell within a network connected to the precuneus. The brain networks identified were consistent with neuroimaging of psychiatric patients with disorders of free will but without lesions. According to the authors, the results suggest networks that may underlie free will and could aid studies of related neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Article #18-14117: "Lesion network localization of free will," by R. Ryan Darby, Juho Joutsa, Matthew Burke, and Michael Fox.
MEDIA CONTACTS: R. Ryan Darby, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN; tel: 615-945-9687; e-mail: darby.ryan@gmail.com ; Michael Fox, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, tel: 617-667-0220; e-mail: foxmdphd@gmail.com
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences