ID 345 – “What”, “When”, “Whether” – The electrophysiological correlates of voluntary action in virtual environment

The study of (Libet, 1985) gave rise to active discussion among scientists over the nature of the will and volition, suggesting that intention to perform voluntary action can be predicted from prior neural activity. (Brass and Haggart, 2008) proposed three different classes of voluntary decisions: ”...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical neurophysiology Vol. 127; no. 3; p. e127
Main Authors: Stanek, K., Winther, O., Angstmann, S., Madsen, K.H., Siebner, H.R.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier B.V 01.03.2016
Subjects:
Neurology
ISSN:1388-2457, 1872-8952
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The study of (Libet, 1985) gave rise to active discussion among scientists over the nature of the will and volition, suggesting that intention to perform voluntary action can be predicted from prior neural activity. (Brass and Haggart, 2008) proposed three different classes of voluntary decisions: ”what” type of action to perform, “when” to act, and “whether” to act or not. Those distinct decisions might involve different neural pathways and anatomical regions, including medial pFC, ACC, preSMA and SMA, PMC, and parietal cortex. In our study, we repeatedly confront participants with the three classes of decisions in a natural, yet still strictly controlled experimental setup, involving navigating a car through a virtual environment. For each participant we acquired high-resolution EEG data with 128-channel Biosemi ActiveTwo system, structural MR brain image (3T Philips), and recorded electrode coordinates with Localite neuro-navigation system. We demonstrate electrophysiological differences in activation of brain regions related to different classes of decisions, in terms of spatial distribution and time-frequency modulation. The event-related modulation of EEG signals, along with subject-specific T1 images, session-specific electrode coordinates, and set of spatial filters are then used to localize decision-relevant neuroanatomical sources distributed over frontal and posterior cortical regions.
ISSN:1388-2457
1872-8952
DOI:10.1016/j.clinph.2015.11.430