Towards a neuropsychology of autonomy: re-presenting forgetting, subliminality and freedom

Abstract

Recent neurobiological concepts about sensomotor processes in animals exhibit that voluntary motor behavior is not due primarily to external cues but to internal activation-processes ("initial activity"). Thus questions are raised as to the role of internal "limbic" valuation-processes in relation to contexts of the past. These are not limited to the actual memorial contents but also relate to subliminal aspects of the past. The inclusion of processes of "re-presenting forgetting" means a re-evaluation of autonomy within a neuropsychological theory of freedom. Consequently, subjective freedom may be realized by intrapsychic processes of re-presentation of the past.