Description
University Press of America The Will and its Brain An Appraisal of Reasoned Free Will by Hans Helmut Kornhuber, Lüder Deecke
In 1964-1965, Hans Helmut Kornhuber and Luder Deecke achieved a scientific breakthrough with the discovery of the Bereitschaftspotential (BP), or readiness potential. In The Will and its Brain, Kornhuber and Deecke present evidence that proves we can record activity from the human brain occurring prior to our volitional movements or actions. Such preparatory activity is generated by specific brain regions, particularly by the supplementary motor area (SMA) of the frontal lobe, which lies on the inner surface of the brain between the hemispheres. The primary (precentral) motor cortex (MI) later becomes activated in preparing for action. Consequently, the authors discriminate between two components of the preparatory activity of the Bereitschaftspotential: an early SMA-generated BP1 and a late MI-derived BP2. Between BP1 and BP2, the intentional activity runs over the so-called motor loop via the basal ganglia. Kornhuber and Deecke discuss these and other brain processing systems while focusing on the concept of free will. They claim that we, indeed, have free will. It may not be absolutely free, but free in terms of degrees. We can take efforts to increase our degrees of freedom through self-improvement, but we can also lose degrees of freedom through self-mismanagement._x000D_ Table of contents :- _x000D_
List of Figures _x000D_
Foreword_x000D_
Preface_x000D_
Preface to the German Edition_x000D_
Introduction - What is the Will?_x000D_
Chapter One: The Will - History and Transcultural Aspects_x000D_
Chapter Two: The Will - Its Association with Freedom_x000D_
Chapter Three: The Will and Psychiatry/Psychology_x000D_
Chapter Four: The Will and Neurophysiology/Brain Research_x000D_
Chapter Five: The Will and New Psychology Schools_x000D_
Chapter Six: The Will and the Real Function of the Frontal Lobe - Commander, Delegator, Supervisor and Rater_x000D_
Chapter Seven: The Will and the Evolution of Man - Creativeness and Cooperation - Common Will_x000D_
Chapter Eight: The Will and Dream Sleep, Feelings, Drives, Meaning-Happiness, Beauty, Love, Empathy and Theory of Mind_x000D_
Chapter Nine: The Will and the Limbic System, the Hypothalamus, the Arousal System, Circadian Rhythm, the Endocrine System, Fatigue and Impetus_x000D_
Chapter Ten: The Will is Not Strictly Coupled with Consciousness - There are Conscious and Unconscious Agendas in the Brain and Both are Important_x000D_
Chapter Eleven: The Will - Is it Grounded upon Freedom or upon Total Determinism?_x000D_
Chapter Twelve: The Will - Its Freedom is Not a Priori Granted: We Have to do Something for It - Actively Increasing our Degrees of Freedom_x000D_
Summary_x000D_
Bibliography_x000D_
Index_x000D_
Name Index_x000D_