Many readers voiced skepticism, alarm, or incredulity at Benjamin Libet’s finding, mentioned in my blogging on the Tucson conference, that the brain processes associated with a volitional act start up long before the conscious decision to act.

Though there is some wiggle room in the interpretation of the results, the results themselves are not really in doubt, and have been replicated many times. The time lag between (a) the brain powering up to do something and (b) you deciding to do it, is being pushed back almost daily — ten seconds is the current record.

Here is a paper passed on by a reader of the Gene Expression website (which kindly re-posted my blogs, as by the way, in an edited version, did Andy Ross).