Conscious intention and brain activity

The problem of free will lies at the heart of modern scientific studies of consciousness. An influential series of experiments by Libet has suggested that conscious intentions arise as a result of brain activity. This contras ts with traditional concepts of free will, in which the mind controls the b ody. A more recent study by Haggard and Eimer has further examined the rela tion between intention and brain processes, concluding that conscious aware ness of intention is linked to the choice or selection of a specific action , and not to the earliest initiation of action processes. The exchange of v iews in this paper further explores the relation between conscious intentio n and brain activity.