title: Tracking the unconscious generation of free decisions using ultra-high field fMRI.
abstract: Recently, we demonstrated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that the outcome of free decisions can be decoded from brain activity several seconds before reaching conscious awareness. Activity patterns in anterior frontopolar cortex (BA 10) were temporally the first to carry intention-related information and thus a candidate region for the unconscious generation of free decisions. In the present study, the original paradigm was replicated and multivariate pattern classification was applied to functional images of frontopolar cortex, acquired using ultra-high field fMRI at 7 Tesla. Here, we show that predictive activity patterns recorded before a decision was made became increasingly stable with increasing temporal proximity to the time point of the conscious decision. Furthermore, detailed questionnaires exploring subjects' thoughts before and during the decision confirmed that decisions were made spontaneously and subjects were unaware of the evolution of their decision outcomes. These results give further evidence that FPC stands at the top of the prefrontal executive hierarchy in the unconscious generation of free decisions.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany. sbode@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bode
authors.forename: Anna Hanxi
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Chun Siong
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Soon
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Trampel
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: John-Dylan
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Haynes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D013997:Time Factors; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology; D055815:Young Adult