Slow ramping emerges from spontaneous fluctuations in spiking neural networks.

The capacity to initiate actions endogenously is critical for goal-directed behavior. Spontaneous voluntary actions are typically preceded by slow-ramping activity in medial frontal cortex that begins around two seconds before movement, which may reflect spontaneous fluctuations that influence action timing. However, the mechanisms by which these slow ramping signals emerge from single-neuron and network dynamics remain poorly understood.

Slow ramping emerges from spontaneous fluctuations in spiking neural networks.

1. We reveal a mechanism for slow-ramping signals before spontaneous voluntary movements. 2.

Diverging lay intuitions about concepts related to free will in arbitrary and deliberate decisions.

Philosophical accounts of free will frequently appeal to deliberate, consequential, and purposeful decisions. However, some recent studies have found that laypeople attribute more freedom to arbitrary than to deliberate decisions. We hypothesized that these differences stem from diverging intuitions about concepts surrounding free will-especially freedom, being in control, and the ability to decide otherwise.