Probing for Intentions: The Early Readiness Potential Does Not Reflect Awareness of Motor Preparation

Abstract

Voluntary actions are typically preceded by the Readiness Potential (RP), a negative midfrontal EEG deflection that begins ~2 seconds before movement. What cognitive and neural process the RP reflects and how it relates to conscious intention remain unclear due to conflicting findings. We investigated the neural basis and cognitive significance of the RP in a novel probe-based paradigm. Contrary to prior reports, we found that pre-probe RP buildups were not related to reported awareness of motor preparation. Computational modeling suggested that the best explanation for these results is via metacognitive access to stochastic accumulation. Reported preparation was also related to beta desynchronization over contralateral motor cortex shortly before probe onset. We conclude that the RP may be metacognitively accessible in response to external task demands, but does not reflect the onset of a conscious intention. We discuss implications of these findings for voluntary action initiation and intention awareness.

Commit to your putting stroke: exploring the impact of quiet eye duration and neural activity on golf putting performance

“…This finding offers support for the proposal that successful putts are associated with reduced response programming demands ( Wright et al, 2012 ) requiring less energy ( Di Russo et al, 2005 ). These findings may seem contradictory to the beta findings presented above, but recent research has suggested that beta and RP could reflect different phenomena within the movement preparation processes ( Gavenas et al, 2023 ; Parés-Pujolràs et al, 2023 ). We recommend that future research explores how beta desynchronization in the motor cortex relates to the RP.…”