How do we carry out willful actions?

Question

I'm a medical student, i asked my psychiatry lecturer this question, he said it goes into deep philosophy or someting like that.
Say for example i want to pick up my pen, what is it that is making me do that? I understand the actual physiology i.e. motor cortex sends impulses down axons to muscle fibres etc etc, but where does that little voice or stimulus in my mind originate that makes me want to execute that action in the first place? Without trying to make it sound to freaky, but its almost like there's an independent 'being' in my head ordering my brain to make me do things i.e. pick up my pen when i want to do so.

Basically what i'm trying to ask is, what makes me 'want' to pick up my pen, or do anything for that matter?

Answer 1

I think there are a number or theories on the phenomenon you are describing. Yes, there are definitely philisophical constructs around the "self" that may be "deep." There are also theories within psychiatry. The psychodynamic construct which accounts for the independent "being" in your mind would be the Ego. But, if you don't want to go down that Freudian route, you might do a little research on "executive functioning." A fairly recent neurological construct, executive functioning is said to be a task of the frontal areas of the brain. According to Dr. James Chandler, "They are the parts of the brain that decide the big issues like what are we going to do next? They allocate resources to different projects. They are supposed to help a person look at multiple possibilities when a decision needs to be made."

The interest in executive functioning has stemmed mainly from research on children and adolescents who seem to lack this capacity. (e.g., kids with ADHD) If you want to read more about it, here is a link: http://www.nldline.com/executive_functioning.htm

Answer 2

All the things that make you "want" to do things are in your brain, too. You feel hunger. You NEED food. So your frontal cortex helps you evaluate your preferences (right side frontal) and the practicalities (left side frontal) and the command to the motor cortex is given. You see, the motor cortex you speak of just a strip down the center of your cerebral cortex. There's all that other cortex, man! It feeds input to the motor cortex, causing you to carry out actions. For example, you may have a behavior pattern to jump back when you hear a car approaching you. The neurons are now wired to cause you to do that...thank goodness! Or, your frontal cortex may want to analyze your situation first, then act if it makes sense for you to do so.

It may seem like there's an independent being up there, but that's because you think about yourself...that creates the sensation of feeling detached from yourself.

Philosophers use the term "will," but it's just a word. Then there's what's really going on up there. Don't let the word confuse you.