A brake on the blink: EEG antecedents of movement suppression and urge to move

To compare brain activity before voluntary movement and before the same movement when it was released from suppression. This study examined the Bereitschaftspotential (BP) and beta band event-related desynchronization (bERD) during active blink suppression, contrasting these with voluntary blinking, where these EEG correlates of motor preparation are well-established.

Fifteen healthy adults performed voluntary blink and blink suppression-release tasks with EEG recording. Time-locked analyses focused on BP and bERD for each condition.

Voluntary blinks showed a robust negative BP, which was markedly attenuated after a period of active suppression. Overall bERD did not significantly differ, but low-frequency bERD mirrored BP activity, while high-frequency bERD showed typical desynchronization.

The dissociation between BP and bERD suggests distinct neurophysiological mechanisms related to the voluntary control and urge to move in fundamental actions like blinks, involving active suppression of typical motor preparation rather than just absent activation. This insight into the neural control of suppressing even basic motor acts may be relevant to understanding conditions characterized by difficulties in action suppression, such as tic disorders.

This study offers novel insights into the neural correlates of suppressing seemingly unavoidable physiological responses, enhancing our understanding of inhibitory control and potentially impacting the study of conditions with action suppression deficits.