Abstract
The question of whether our behavior is guided by our conscious intentions is gaining momentum within the field of cognitive neuroscience. It has been demonstrated that the subjective experience that conscious intentions are the driving force of our actions, is built partially on a post hoc reconstruction. Our hypothesis was that this reconstructive process is mediated by an action-monitoring system that compares the predicted and the actual sensory consequences of an action. We applied event-related potentials (ERP) to a variant of the Libet's task in which participants were asked to press a button and to report the time of decision – will judgment (W) – to press. We provided delayed auditory feedbacks after participants’ action to signify an action time later than the actual action. We found that auditory feedbacks evoked a negative component in the 250–300 time range, namely action-effect negativity (NAE), that is thought to reflect the activity of a system that detects violation from expectancies. We showed that the amplitude of the NAE was sensitive to the delay of the auditory feedback, with a larger amplitude for more delayed feedbacks. Furthermore, changes in the NAE were also associated with changes in the reported W. These results not only confirm that we infer the time we decided to act from events occurring after the response, but these results also indicate that the subjective experience of when an action is decided is influenced by the activity of an action-monitoring system that detects mismatches between predicted and actual sensory consequences of the actions.
Highlights
In our daily lives, we have the impression that we are able to choose freely and consciously among different possible courses of actions
We applied event-related potentials (ERP) to a variant of the Libet’s task in which participants were asked to press a button and to report the time of decision – will judgment (W) – to press.We provided delayed auditory feedbacks after participants’ action to signify an action time later than the actual action.We found that auditory feedbacks evoked a negative component in the 250–300 time range, namely action-effect negativity (N ), that is thought to reflect the activity of a system that detects violation from expectancies
Changes in the N were associated with changes in the reportedW.These results confirm that we infer the time we decided to act from events occurring after the response, but these results indicate that the subjective experience of when an action is decided is influenced by the activity of an action-monitoring system that detects mismatches between predicted and actual sensory consequences of the actions
Summary
We have the impression that we are able to choose freely and consciously among different possible courses of actions. We have the impression that our behavior is guided, at least in many circumstances, by our conscious decisions, which are a sort of ‘driving force’ of our behavior. That’s presumably because we feel that our conscious decision to act precedes the action itself. When we decide to turn on the TV, we feel clearly that the action of turning on the TV is preceded (and caused) by our conscious intention to turn on the TV. Given that the cause always precedes the effect, we feel that our conscious decision caused the TV to be turned on. Recent findings in psychology and neuroscience have shown that the relationship between conscious intentions behavior is rather more complex
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
