Free Wally: Where motor intentions meet reason and consequence

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Human Agency Research

Background:

• Traditional studies on intention use spontaneous movements, lacking ecological validity.
• Spontaneous actions lack reasons to act and consequence evaluation, limiting generalizability to deliberate actions.
• Deliberate actions are crucial for understanding human agency and free will.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an ecologically valid tool for studying deliberate intended action.
• To compare neural preparation of deliberate actions (using "Free Wally") with spontaneous actions.
• To validate the "Free Wally" game as a controlled environment for intention research.

Main Methods:

• Development of the "Free Wally" computer game for deliberate action.
• Comparison of "Free Wally" with a traditional spontaneous action measurement game.
• Real-time probing for intention timing.
• Measurement of neural preparation via (lateralized) readiness potential and alpha/beta event-related desynchronization.

Main Results:

• No significant differences were found in late stages of action preparation (readiness potential, event-related desynchronization) between the "Free Wally" game and the spontaneous action game.
• This suggests "Free Wally" is a valid tool for studying neural correlates of intended action.
• Differences in earlier intention formation stages are anticipated and warrant further investigation.

Conclusions:

• The "Free Wally" game provides a controlled, ecologically valid environment for studying deliberate intended actions.
• "Free Wally" is validated as a tool for measuring neural preparation in intended actions.
• Further research is encouraged to explore intention formation and content using this novel tool.