ABSTRACT
Benjamin Libetsky obtained his PhD in 1939 at a relatively young age of 23. Although Libetsky is a relatively unknown neuroscientist, he undertook pioneering and thought-provoking research into the neural basis of human consciousness, initiation of action and free will – areas that also share an overlap with the concerns of philosophy. Libet decided to examine the somatosensory cortex lying in the postcentral gyrus of the parietal lobes, which he could easily access. Libet began his investigations by trying to establish the barest threshold parameters needed to produce a conscious reaction in his subjects – and to this end he stimulated their somatosensory cortex with electrodes placed on its surface and varied the frequency, duration and intensity of the electrical pulses. The most startling implication of Libet's findings is that our conscious perception and the experience of the real world lags half a second behind the real events that are actually taking place.
