Study: “free will” resides in the brain area called parietal cortex

The “free will” resides in brain – says a new study. The study conducted by French researchers has the area where “free will” resides in brain. According to the lead researcher of the study and a neuroscientist at the CNRS Cognitive Neuroscience Centre in Bron, Angela Sirigu, “free will” resides towards the back of the brain called the parietal cortex.

Angela Sirigu, along with team of neurosurgeons including Carmine Mottolese, conducted study on seven patients undergoing brain surgery to remove tumours.

While electrically jolting the region (parietal cortex) of the brains of the patients undergoing surgery, the neuroscientist noticed that the patients felt a desire to wiggle their finger, roll their tongue or move a limb. The stronger electrical pulses did convince patients that they did actually perform these movements, although their bodies remained motionless.

In the study published in the journal Science, Sirigu has explained that the findings of their study reveal that there are specific brain regions that are involved in the consciousness of your movement. According to Sirigu, there are two brain areas involved in the decision to move a limb and then execute the action. The parietal cortex predicts about future movements and sends commands to another brain area called premotor cortex, which returns the outcome of the movement to the parietal cortex.