Para quienes hacen promesas o dicen sus propósitos de año nuevo cada navidad. Ahora ya saben porqué nunca los cumplen…
Why make New Year resolutions if genes and environment decide our behaviour rather than free will?
The new year is a time for resolutions. You promise to take up jogging, spend more time with friends, do good works or maybe smile a little more frequently. But are you fundamentally deluding yourself into thinking you can change?
A growing body of research suggests that much of our behaviour is determined by either our genes or our environment, leaving little room for personal choice. The age-old notion of “free will” is under attack, boosted by examinations of brain activity during decision-making.
An influential 2007 study, which monitored people’s brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), suggested people became conscious of making a decision only after the relevant neurons had fired into action. Neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes, who asked participants to hit a button with their left or right hand, was able to predict their decisions seven seconds before they were even aware of making them.
Earlier this year, a series of projects got under way in what is the single biggest research programme on free will. The $4.4 million (€3.4m) four-year initiative is backed by the John Templeton Foundation in Pennsylvania, which funds research spanning theology and science.
Philosopher Alfred Mele of Florida State University, who is charged with overseeing the project, says neuroscientists and evolutionary biologists are helping to deepen our understanding of an issue that was once the preserve of religious thinkers. Speaking to Nature in September, he admitted that if studies like Haynes’ could be reproduced to predict a range of decisions “that would be a threat to free will”…
i_alcocer ████████ 