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Updated: Dec 14, 2025

Characterization of the Sense of Agency over the Actions of Neural-machine Interface-operated Prostheses
Published on: January 7, 2019
Real and imagined sensory feedback have comparable effects on action anticipation
Ana P Pinheiro1, Michael Schwartze2, Francisco Gutiérrez-Domínguez3
1CICPSI, Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal; Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
The forward model monitors the success of sensory feedback to an action and links it to an efference copy originating in the motor system. The Readiness Potential (RP) of the electroencephalogram has been denoted as a neural signature of the efference copy. An open question is whether imagined sensory feedback works similarly to real sensory feedback. We investigated the RP to audible and imagined sounds in a button-press paradigm and assessed the role of sound complexity (vocal vs. non-vocal sound). Sensory feedback (both audible and imagined) in response to a voluntary action modulated the RP amplitude time-locked to the button press. The RP amplitude increase was larger for actions with expected sensory feedback (audible and imagined) than those without sensory feedback, and associated with N1 suppression for audible sounds. Further, the early RP phase was increased when actions elicited an imagined vocal (self-voice) compared to non-vocal sound. Our results support the notion that sensory feedback is anticipated before voluntary actions. This is the case for both audible and imagined sensory feedback and confirms a role of overt and covert feedback in the forward model.
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