%A Shadlen,Michael %A Roskies,Adina %D 2012 %J Frontiers in Neuroscience %C %F %G English %K compatibilism,determinism,free will,lateral intraparietal area,Motion Perception,Noise,policy,responsibility %Q %R 10.3389/fnins.2012.00056 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2012-April-23 %9 Hypothesis and Theory %+ Dr Michael Shadlen,University of Washington Medical School,Physiology & Biophysics,Box 357290,Seattle,98195-7290,WA,United States,shadlen@uw.edu %+ Dr Michael Shadlen,Howard Hughes Medical Institute,University of Washington,Box 357370,Seattle,98195-7370,WA,United States,shadlen@uw.edu %# %! neurobiology of decision-making and responsibility %* %< %T The Neurobiology of Decision-Making and Responsibility: Reconciling Mechanism and Mindedness %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2012.00056 %V 6 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 1662-453X %X This essay reviews recent developments in neurobiology which are beginning to expose the mechanisms that underlie some elements of decision-making that bear on attributions of responsibility. These “elements” have been mainly studied in simple perceptual decision tasks, which are performed similarly by humans and non-human primates. Here we consider the role of neural noise, and suggest that thinking about the role of noise can shift the focus of discussions of randomness in decision-making away from its role in enabling alternate possibilities and toward a potential grounding role for responsibility.