Relationship between thought and physical actions?

Question

When I decide to move my finger, how does this decision (which is a "thought") get translated into the physical "action" of moving the finger? If you believe the thought itself is actually a physical entity (which thus "gets the physiological ball rolling"), then explain how the process of creating this physical thought works. In other words, how can my mere (non-physical) "will" set in motion a physical process?

I am more interested in the philosophical answers than the biological (although that would be interesting if 'Answerer' is particularly knowledgeable - the problem was with classification, I wanted to attract the widest audience possible.

Answer 1

Well, no one really knows. There'll be plenty of theories out there but there's no certain fact about the matter.

Are thoughts really physical? If they're non physical how can they have any causal power? Do we really have any will? Or is that a deceptive conscious experience of the sequence of brain activity involved in believing we're experiencing the will to move our finger?

Basically, your question extends beyond biology and into philosophy. And even the greatest philosophers have so far failed to provide a cogent account of the interplay between conscious thought and physical brain processes.

But perhaps there is a less broad reaching biological answer that you'd be satisfied with, if so, I don't know it.

Edit: While the studies Joan H mentions are very interesting, she fails to point out that "conscious thought" can only ever be measured by self reporting (as any biological measure of a conscious thought presupposes a certain kind of definition of "conscious thought").

I think some of these studies were done with a pressing of a button or similar. The point is, by whatever mechanism a person reports that they are experiencing a conscious thought, there is room to argue that the delay is in providing that report, not in actually having the experience.

Answer 2

There have been very interesting studies done on this very thing. Surprisingly (to those who admire the presumed great intelligence of humans brains and think they are making all these decisions with conscious thought), almost everything a person does is started milliseconds before it becomes a conscious thought. This has been measured minutely. For instance, if you get out of your chair to get a snack, you consciously decide that is what you want to do AFTER you have already started the process.

If this were not the case, you would never be able to get along in daily life. You wouldn't be able to walk and chew gum at the same time because your conscious brain could only concentrate on one of those activities at a time.

This is the biological answer. Philosophy can wander off wherever it wishes.

Answer 3

I think that when you are young you are only born with instinctual movement, once you get a bit older you become aware that you are in control (some what) of your limps etc. Basically during those first few months of life your brain is trying to work out how to get those things to move. Its all about messages from the brain to the muscles. Once you have mastered how to control this, its all pretty much an instinct and you dont need to concentrate on the messages.

Answer 4

Google, "Laban" very interesting man who asked the same question and came up with an amazing dance technique...which was then translated for the use of a actors, by a pupil of Laban's called Yat Malmgren....I was taught by Yat at Drama college and he was an amazing man...Anthony Hopkins used to come to the college for instruction.

Answer 5

thought is an illusion, there is mealy a chain reaction of chemical impulses influenced by the outside world. so there is no change from thought to physical action