Yes, some minor objections have been raised to Libet's early studies (<1980) but he started a still continuing line of research, by dozens of scientists, that clearly demonstrates our conscious mind is often several seconds delayed in learning the decision that was already made and can be observed in recorded brain activity earlier. My quote at start of the link (copy below) is not of Libet's 35 year old pioneering work but taken from a review of the field published by
The Economist in 2009, vol. 10.
"... The electrical activity of the volunteer’s brain (his brainwave pattern, in common parlance) was recorded by the EEG from the button’s press. Each volunteer was given 30 seconds to read the puzzle and another 60 to 90 seconds to solve it. ... Some people worked it out; others did not. The significant point, though, was that the EEG predicted who would fall where. ... Moreover, the difference
was noticeable up to eight seconds before the volunteer realised he had found the solution. Dr Sheth thinks this may be capturing the “transformational thought” (the light-bulb moment, as it were) in action, before the brain’s “owner” is consciously aware of it….”
In fact it is easy to show (as Freud long ago suggested) that humans rarely know the true reason why they do what they do, make the choices that they make, etc. What happens is we consciously see what we do and then FABRICATE a plausible reason why we did that or made that choice. Here is one demonstration of that fabrication in action:
Sarah is hypnotized and told to take off her shoes when a book drops on the floor. Fifteen minutes later a book drops, and Sarah quietly slips out of her loafers. "Sarah," asks the hypnotist, "why did you take off your shoes?" "Well... my feet are hot and tired," Sarah replies. "It's been a long day." From: "Social Psychology" by David Myers (1999)
In this case everyone else in the room knows the real reason Sarah took off her shoes. There are thousands of similar examples. Really, there is very little reason to think that we decide anything ONLY by conscious thought except analytic decisions, such as: "Are two small boxes of X, now on sale, actually a better buy than the big "economy box" at the regular price?"
IMHO, the function of consciousness, and its great survival value, is to block the actual execution of already decided actions when conscious consideration of their probable or possible consequences indicates that action may be quite undesirable.
If interested here is a good discussion of this whole area with emphasis on its implications for “free will”:
http://www.humantruth.info/free_will.html
This objection is very weak as the author is ignoring all the evidence that shows our choices are not solely made consciously. More serious objections to Libet's methodology have been raised and later research has been designed to avoid them.
