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BREATHING AND FREE WILL

A groundbreaking study reveals you’re more likely to make decisions involving free will while exhaling than inhaling. To see whether breathing influences choice, scientists at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland conducted three computerized experiments. During each, participants’ brain and heart activity and respiration were measured and paired with test performance.

In the first trial, 20 adults pressed a button on a keypad three times every 8-12 seconds. In the second test, a different group of people viewed a red dot going around in a circle and were asked to push a button after the dot had circled once. That group was also asked to watch a red dot and press a button when a green dot occurred, in a third experiment.

The researchers found people were more likely to initiate voluntary movements while exhaling, suggesting our ability to freely make decisions may be affected by input from the body as well as the brain. This challenges a long-standing theory of “readiness potential,” which holds that decision-making is largely determined by brain signals alone.