Neuroscientific Prediction and the Intrusion of Intuitive Metaphysics

Rose, D., Buckwalter, W., & Nichols, S. (2015). Neuroscientific Prediction and the Intrusion of Intuitive Metaphysics. Cognitive Science, 41(2), 482–502.

How might advanced neuroscience — in which perfect neuro-predictions are possible — interact with ordinary judgments of free will? We propose that peoples’ intuitive ideas about indeterminist free will are both imported into and intrude into their representation of neuroscientific scenarios and present six experiments demonstrating intrusion and importing effects in the context of scenarios depicting perfect neuro-prediction. In light of our findings, we suggest that the intuitive commitment to indeterminist free will may be resilient in the face of scientific evidence against such free will.