Towards a scientific concept of free will as a biological trait: spontaneous actions and decision-making in invertebrates.
Towards a scientific concept of free will as a biological trait: spontaneous actions and decision-making in invertebrates.
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2010.2325
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发表时间：
2011-03-22
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Brembs B
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brembs B
在现代神经科学出现之前，自由意志曾经是一个神学和形而上学的概念，很少涉及大脑功能。今天，随着对神经元、电路和认知的理解不断加深，这个概念已经过时，任何关于自由意志的形而上学解释都被理所当然地拒绝了。然而，结果并不是我们变成了无意识的自动机，对外界刺激做出可预测的反应。相反，从比我们小得多的大脑中积累的证据表明，大脑功能的一般组织在协调内部和外部处理的复杂计算的基础上结合了灵活的决策。这种组织的适应性价值包括对竞争对手、猎物或捕食者的不可预测性，以及能够探索确定性自动机永远找不到的隐藏资源。与此同时，这种组织使所有动物都能以久经考验的行为对可预测和可靠的刺激做出有效反应。正如神经科学史上多次出现的情况一样，无脊椎动物模型系统正在引领这些研究工作。这一相对较新的证据表明，即使不是所有的大脑，也是大多数大脑的一个共同能力是，即使在环境没有差异的情况下，也能在不同的行为选项中做出选择，并执行真正新颖的行为。因此，任何神经生物学家加入并支持一个相当杰出的学者名单似乎是一个合理的努力，这些学者试图将“自由意志”一词从其形而上学的祖先中解脱出来。我们的目标是从这些最近发现的过程开始，并重点关注它们背后的神经生物学机制，从而得出自由意志的科学概念。
Until the advent of modern neuroscience, free will used to be a theological and a metaphysical concept, debated with little reference to brain function. Today, with ever increasing understanding of neurons, circuits and cognition, this concept has become outdated and any metaphysical account of free will is rightfully rejected. The consequence is not, however, that we become mindless automata responding predictably to external stimuli. On the contrary, accumulating evidence also from brains much smaller than ours points towards a general organization of brain function that incorporates flexible decision-making on the basis of complex computations negotiating internal and external processing. The adaptive value of such an organization consists of being unpredictable for competitors, prey or predators, as well as being able to explore the hidden resource deterministic automats would never find. At the same time, this organization allows all animals to respond efficiently with tried-and-tested behaviours to predictable and reliable stimuli. As has been the case so many times in the history of neuroscience, invertebrate model systems are spearheading these research efforts. This comparatively recent evidence indicates that one common ability of most if not all brains is to choose among different behavioural options even in the absence of differences in the environment and perform genuinely novel acts. Therefore, it seems a reasonable effort for any neurobiologist to join and support a rather illustrious list of scholars who are trying to wrestle the term ‘free will’ from its metaphysical ancestry. The goal is to arrive at a scientific concept of free will, starting from these recently discovered processes with a strong emphasis on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying them.
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