Abstract
Voluntary action – in particular the ability to produce desired effects in the environment – is fundamental to human existence. According to ideomotor theory we can achieve goals in the environment by means of anticipating their outcomes. We aimed at providing neurophysiological evidence for the assumption that performing actions calls for the activation of brain areas associated with the sensory effects usually evoked by the actions. We conducted an fMRI study in which right and left button presses lead to the presentation of face and house pictures. We compared a baseline phase with the same phase after participants experienced the association between button presses and pictures. We found an increase in the parahippocampal place area (PPA) for the response that has been associated with house pictures and fusiform face area (FFA) for the response that has been coupled with face pictures. This observation constitutes support for ideomotor theory.
Highlights
The ability to produce desired effects in the environment constitutes an essential aspect of human behavior
We found an increase in the parahippocampal place area (PPA) for the response that has been associated with house pictures and fusiform face area (FFA) for the response that has been coupled with face pictures
Post hoc paired t-tests revealed a significant difference between the face and house associated response in PPA (t(16) = −4.28, p < 0.01) and a marginally significant difference in FFA (t(16) = 2.06, p = 0.056) during the test phase, but no significant differences during the baseline phase (PPA: t(16) = 0.81, p = 0.43; FFA: t(16) = −0.37, p = 0.72)
Summary
The ability to produce desired effects in the environment constitutes an essential aspect of human behavior (cf., Haggard, 2008). The concept of voluntary action is omnipresent in our interaction with the environment and our social lives. One focus of this research has been the fact that to purposefully achieve an action goal presupposes knowledge about action–effect relationships Without this knowledge any action effect would be accidental and goal-directed action impossible. The ideomotor theory accentuates the role of the anticipation of sensory effects in action control (cf., Lotze, 1852; Harless, 1861; James, 1890). It claims that performing an action results in a bidirectional association between the action’s motor code and the sensory effects the action produces. These associations can be used to select an action by anticipating or internally activating their perceptual consequences (e.g., Greenwald, 1970; Prinz, 1997; Elsner and Hommel, 2001; Herwig et al, 2007; Kühn et al, 2010)
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