title: Media Portrayal of a Landmark Neuroscience Experiment on Free Will.
abstract: The concept of free will has been heavily debated in philosophy and the social sciences. Its alleged importance lies in its association with phenomena fundamental to our understandings of self, such as autonomy, freedom, self-control, agency, and moral responsibility. Consequently, when neuroscience research is interpreted as challenging or even invalidating this concept, a number of heated social and ethical debates surface. We undertook a content analysis of media coverage of Libet's et al.'s (Brain 106(Pt 3):623-642, 1983) landmark study, which is frequently interpreted as posing a serious challenge to the existence of free will. Media descriptions of Libet et al.'s experiment provided limited details about the original study. Overall, many media articles reported that Libet et al.'s experiments undermined the existence of free will, despite acknowledging that several methodological limitations had been identified in the literature. A propensity to attribute greater credibility than warranted to neurobiological explanations could be at stake.
authors.affiliation: Neuroethics Research Unit, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), 110 avenue des Pins Ouest, Montreal, QC, H2W lR7, Canada. eric.racine@ircm.qc.ca.|Department of Experimental Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. eric.racine@ircm.qc.ca.|Department of Medicine and Department of Social and Preventative Medicine, Université de Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada. eric.racine@ircm.qc.ca.|Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. eric.racine@ircm.qc.ca.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Racine
authors.affiliation: Neuroethics Research Unit, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), 110 avenue des Pins Ouest, Montreal, QC, H2W lR7, Canada.
authors.forename: Valentin
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Neuroethics Research Unit, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), 110 avenue des Pins Ouest, Montreal, QC, H2W lR7, Canada.|Department of Experimental Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Saigle
authors.affiliation: Neuroethics Research Unit, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), 110 avenue des Pins Ouest, Montreal, QC, H2W lR7, Canada.|Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Veljko
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dubljevic
mesh_terms: D032984:Ethics, Research; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media / Q000592:standards*; D009488:Neurosciences / Q000941:ethics* / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D026684:Personal Autonomy
keywords: Ethics; Free will; Libet; Media; Neuroscience