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Consequences matter: Self-induced tones are used as feedback to optimize tone-eliciting actions
Bence Neszmélyi1,2, János Horváth1
1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
Psychophysiology
|February 28, 2017
Summary
Motor processes adapt based on sensory feedback. Actions producing sound were softer, indicating auditory consequences influence motor control and contribute to auditory attenuation effects.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Auditory Perception
- Motor Control
Background:
- Motor processes are often assumed to be invariant regardless of sensory consequences.
- Self-induced stimuli processing typically relies on the assumption that actions remain consistent.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the assumption of motor process invariance in self-induced stimuli.
- To explore how auditory consequences affect motor control and auditory attenuation.
Main Methods:
- Compared pinch actions with and without auditory consequences (tones).
- Analyzed electroencephalography (EEG) event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with different pinch intensities.
Main Results:
- Pinches eliciting a tone were significantly softer than those without auditory effects.
- ERP analysis revealed differences in action-related N1 attenuation between strong and soft pinches.
Conclusions:
- Motor processes are not invariable and are influenced by predictable sensory feedback.
- Auditory stimuli are not perceived as irrelevant side effects but as feedback for action optimization.
- Motor correction biases may contribute to auditory ERP attenuation, challenging purely predictive process explanations.
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