Rigoni, D. 1, 2, 3 , Brass, M. 2 & Burle, B. 1
1 Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, CNRS, Université de Provence, Marseille, France
2 Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
3 Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italia
The feeling of being in control of one’s own actions is a strong and pervasive subjective experience. Yet, recent discoveries in psychology and cognitive neuroscience challenge the validity of this experience and suggest that free will is just an illusion. This raises a crucial question: What would happen if people started to really disbelieve in free will? Previous research has shown that low control beliefs affect negatively performance and motivation. More recently, it has been shown that undermining free-will beliefs increases antisocial tendencies and aggressive behavior. Here we report a series of neurophysiological studies showing that undermining beliefs in free will affects brain processing related to motor control. In particular, people induced to disbelieve in free will show reduced cortical preparation for action and less intentional inhibition. Our findings indicate that abstract belief systems might have a much more fundamental effect on brain functioning than previously thought.