People who are prone to acting on impulses could have less free will than the rest of us.

People who act on impulse often make terrible choices, but you can't blame them for that. There is no guarantee
that it is their fault. It's possible that not having enough time to think things through might lead to impulsive
behavior. At the very least, this is the conclusion that can be drawn from a novel take on a well-known
experiment on free will.

Benjamin Libet, a neurologist, conducted an experiment in 1983 to investigate the question of whether or not
humans possess free will. The participants were given a clock with a dot that rotated while they were instructed
to voluntarily flex a finger on their hand. As soon as they were aware of their desire to act, it was required of
them to make a note of the location of the dot. Libet measured their brain activity using EEG electrodes that
were connected to their scalps while they were carrying out the task.

He discovered that around 350 milliseconds prior to the volunteers being fully aware of their desire to act, there
was a surge in brain activity known as the readiness potential. This potential precedes a deliberate action and
occurs before the action itself. It is believed that the readiness potential is a signal that the brain is getting ready
for movement.

Libet came to the conclusion that his findings indicated that free will is an illusion. However, he reasoned that
we are not entirely at the mercy of our neurons since there was a gap of two hundred milliseconds between the
cognitive understanding of our desire and the beginning of action. Libet contended that this was sufficient time
to deliberately object to the activity, or to exercise our "free won't."

Even while many people continue to disagree with Libet's interpretations, this has not prevented other
researchers from doing their own versions of his experiment. This has led to the discovery, amongst other
things, that individuals with Tourette's syndrome, who are afflicted with uncontrolled tics, have a shorter veto
window than those who do not have the illness, as do individuals who are affected by schizophrenia.