Conscious intention and human action: Review of the rise and fall of the readiness potential and Libet’s clock

Neafsey, Edward J.

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2021.103171

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Using this method, T-Time (usually 1-2 s before movement onset) was far earlier than estimates of intention onset from the clock method (usually around 200 ms before movement onset). This may even overturn the classic interpretation that the RP emerges before conscious intention 47 . However, the validity of this method relies on two crucial assumptions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Probing for Intentions: The Early Readiness Potential Does Not Reflect Awareness of Motor Preparation

Gavenas,

Schurger,

Maoz

2023

Preprint

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Voluntary actions are typically preceded by the Readiness Potential (RP), a negative midfrontal EEG deflection that begins ~2 seconds before movement. What cognitive and neural process the RP reflects and how it relates to conscious intention remain unclear due to conflicting findings. We investigated the neural basis and cognitive significance of the RP in a novel probe-based paradigm. Contrary to prior reports, we found that pre-probe RP buildups were not related to reported awareness of motor preparation. Computational modeling suggested that the best explanation for these results is via metacognitive access to stochastic accumulation. Reported preparation was also related to beta desynchronization over contralateral motor cortex shortly before probe onset. We conclude that the RP may be metacognitively accessible in response to external task demands, but does not reflect the onset of a conscious intention. We discuss implications of these findings for voluntary action initiation and intention awareness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Probing for Intentions: The Early Readiness Potential Does Not Reflect Awareness of Motor Preparation

Gavenas,

Schurger,

Maoz

2023

Preprint

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“…The first two potentials are related to preparatory processes. The readiness potential (RP), or Bereitschaftspotential (Neafsey, 2021), is not specific to motor behavior per se. Libet (Libet, 1985) observed RPs develop in human subjects many hundreds of milliseconds prior to movement onset and even awareness to act and interpreted these cortical potentials as correlates of unconscious action preparation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Libet (Libet, 1985) observed RPs develop in human subjects many hundreds of milliseconds prior to movement onset and even awareness to act and interpreted these cortical potentials as correlates of unconscious action preparation. It has been also suggested that RPs could represent anticipation without specific encoding of motor parameters or even artifacts related to averaging of noise (Neafsey, 2021). By contrast to RP, LRP is action specific.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lateralized Sensorimotor Evoked Potentials during Visuomotor Transformation in Real and Imagined Movements

Syrov

Yakovlev

Kaplan

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The neural mechanisms underlying motor preparation have attracted much attention, particularly because of the assertion that they are similar to the mechanisms of motor imagery (MI), a technique widely used in motor rehabilitation and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). Here we clarified the process of visuomotor transformation for the real and imagined movements by analyzing EEG responses that were time locked to the appearance of visual targets and movement onsets. The experimental task required responding to target stimuli with button presses or imagined button presses while ignoring distractors. We examined how different components of movement-related potentials (MRPs) varied depending on the reaction time (RT) and interpreted the findings in terms of the motor noise accumulation hypothesis. Furthermore, we compared MRPs and event-related desynchronization (ERD) for overt motor actions versus motor imagery. For the MRPs, we distinguished lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs) and reafferent potentials (RAPs). While MRPs were similar for the real and imagined movements, imagery-related potentials were not lateralized. The amplitude of the late potentials that developed during motor imagery at the same time RAPs occurred during real movements was correlated with the amplitude of β-ERD. As such they could have represented sensorimotor activation triggered by the imagery. LRPs that occurred during real movements lasted longer for longer RTs, which is consistent with activity accumulation in the motor cortex prior to overt action onset. LRPs occurred for non-target stimuli, as well, but they were small and short lived. We interpret these results in terms of a visuomotor transformation, where information flows from visual to motor areas and results in a movement, a decision not to move and/or a mental image of a movement. The amplitude of the late positive peak that developed during MI was correlated with the amplitude of the β-ERD. Since the latency of this component was consistent with the timing of RAP, we suggest that it is a non-lateralized RAP-like component associated with sensorimotor activation during kinesthetic MI.

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“…The observation has limits in its comparing measurements from different domains, yet it raised a scientific case and was expanded to philosophical dimensions (about human free will and the irreversibility of the intention to act, for instance), with a resulting discussion that also questioned the functional significance of the RP itself (Neafsey, 2021; Schurger et al, 2021). Its major suggested implication, however, remains that also becoming (self-)conscious may require considerable lengths of time.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Time, Consciousness, and the Readiness Potential

Sannita

2023

Journal of Psychophysiology

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Conscious intention and human action: Review of the rise and fall of the readiness potential and Libet’s clock

Cited by 15 publications

References 63 publications

Probing for Intentions: The Early Readiness Potential Does Not Reflect Awareness of Motor Preparation

Probing for Intentions: The Early Readiness Potential Does Not Reflect Awareness of Motor Preparation

Lateralized Sensorimotor Evoked Potentials during Visuomotor Transformation in Real and Imagined Movements

Time, Consciousness, and the Readiness Potential

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