Electrophysiological investigation for the neural basis of voluntary decision making

• Project/Area Number: 22800080
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Cognitive science
• Research Institution: National Institute for Physiological Sciences
• Principal Investigator: MATSUMOTO Atsushi 生理学研究所, 統合生理研究系, 特別協力研究員 (20588462)
• Project Period (FY): 2010 – 2011
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2011)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,016,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,320,000、Indirect Cost: ¥696,000); Fiscal Year 2011: ¥1,404,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,080,000、Indirect Cost: ¥324,000); Fiscal Year 2010: ¥1,612,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,240,000、Indirect Cost: ¥372,000)
• Keywords: 自由意思 / MEG

Research Abstract

This research investigated the neural basis for the voluntary movement. Our results showed that various brain regions were activated when one made the decisions for the voluntary movement and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex(DLPFC) were activated at first. Further, this region has functional connectivity to the M1 and Pre-motor cortex. These results indicate that DLPFC plays an important role for the generation of free will for movement.