Representing the consequences of intentionally inhibited actions

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Experimental Psychology

Background:

• Voluntary actions are often planned but sometimes cancelled at the last moment.
• Understanding the cognitive processes underlying action inhibition is crucial for explaining human behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the subjective experience of control during intentional action inhibition.
• To examine how intentional inhibition affects the temporal perception of associated events.

Main Methods:

• Participants prepared voluntary keypress actions, with some intentionally inhibited at the last moment.
• Auditory tones were presented following actions or in the absence of action.
• Intentional binding, a measure of the sense of agency, was assessed by participants' temporal judgments of tone onset.

Main Results:

• Voluntary actions demonstrated the expected temporal binding, with tones perceived as closer to the action.
• Intentional inhibition trials showed a repulsive effect, with tones perceived as further from the action.
• The experience of control and temporal perception of events are significantly altered by intentional inhibition.

Conclusions:

• Intentional inhibition is a distinct cognitive process impacting action prediction and experience.
• The sense of agency is modulated by the decision to inhibit rather than execute an action.
• This research provides insights into the mechanisms of voluntary action control and decision-making.