Abstract To study voluntary action a dissociation must be established between the somatic event (e.g, motor action) and what the agent voluntarily does (e.g, handing a tool to a friend). We propose that cognitive neuroscience studies of hypnotic suggestion can accomplish this dissociation between action and will (more specifically, between action and intention, or action and volition). Thus, hypnotic suggestion may afford an empirical testing ground to study voluntary action, distinguishing voluntariness from action.