Cancelling cancellation? Sensorimotor control, agency, and prediction

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroscience of Action Control
• Perception and Action

Background:

• Classic theories posit predictive cancellation of sensory consequences of actions.
• Recent research challenges the necessity of predictive cancellation for action control.
• This raises questions about the validity of established action theories.

Purpose of the Study:

• To re-evaluate the role of predictive cancellation in action control and awareness.
• To determine if existing action control theories need revision in light of new findings.
• To propose alternative mechanisms for explaining action-related perception.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical analysis and synthesis of existing research on action control and predictive processing.
• Conceptual framework development to accommodate new findings.
• Literature review of studies on predictive coding and action awareness.

Main Results:

• Doubts about predictive cancellation do not invalidate core theories of action control.
• Adaptive functions of predictive cancellation can be achieved via quasi-predictive or non-canceling predictive processes.
• Perception is influenced by predictions without necessarily requiring active cancellation.

Conclusions:

• Established theories of action control and awareness can be largely maintained.
• Rethinking prediction's role in perception is necessary, but not to the extent of discarding existing frameworks.
• Alternative predictive and quasi-predictive mechanisms offer pathways to understand agent-environment interactions.