No #freewill ? Such BS. #N400 – there is a #lag in the brain when faced with something unexpected. We spent most of our lives assuming we know what’s about to happen. We base our predictions of the future upon what we know and our expectations rule us.
But then… something happens that we don’t expect.
Brain needs to process quickly. Brain needs to decide “fit/misfit/what is it/this isn’t what I expected”.
Takes about 400ms to process. This initial “*no that’s not right!* – is also known as cognitive dissonance. This even applies to processing music in the brain, not just meanings of words or pictures. We expect certain sounds to follow other sounds, even if we’ve never heard a piece before.
Things fit templates.
When they don’t? The N400 effect.
This also might be where the “me” is.
Someone has to be saying, “No, that’s not right, is it?”
#Freewill is quite real and whether or not we are machines, we are Self Aware machines and we choose.
We reject, then we decide whether or not to accept a tiny bit later.
Drugs and mental differences can affect the N400 effect significantly.
So, are you real?
As long as there is someone going, “Wait, what!?” for literally a split-second… the answer is yes. You are real. You react and you choose what to accept and what to reject.