Pre-movement event-related potentials and multivariate pattern of EEG encode action outcome prediction

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Motor Control

Background:

• Self-initiated movements involve an efference copy, predicting sensory outcomes.
• Pre-motor event-related potentials (ERPs), such as readiness potential (RP) and lateralized readiness potential (LRP), are proposed neural markers for action feedback prediction.
• The specificity of these markers for active versus passive movements, which share sensory feedback but differ in efference copy, remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how active and passive movements are distinguishable using pre-movement electroencephalography (EEG).
• To examine if neural activity differences vary based on expected sensory outcomes.
• To determine if pre-movement EEG encodes action-feedback predictions.

Main Methods:

• Participants performed active (self-initiated) or passive (externally moved) finger movements.
• Movements were followed by visual, auditory stimuli, or no contingency (control).
• Pre-movement electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded, analyzing readiness potential (RP), lateralized readiness potential (LRP), and using multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) for decoding.

Main Results:

• Readiness potential (RP) showed an interaction between task and movement type, differing in visual and auditory conditions but not control.
• Lateralized readiness potential (LRP) exhibited a main effect of movement, distinguishing active from passive actions.
• Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) successfully decoded movement type (active vs. passive) with high accuracy (~85%) and identified distinct neural patterns for expected sensory outcomes.

Conclusions:

• Pre-movement EEG, particularly RP and LRP, can differentiate between active and passive movements.
• The neural encoding of action-feedback predictions is influenced by the expectation of sensory outcomes.
• Pre-movement brain activity robustly represents predictions about subsequent sensory consequences of actions.