Tuning into the brain: Readiness potentials as instigators of intention reports.

Neural signals such as the readiness potential (RP) may not be the cause of intention experiences or actions, but instead function as an ingredient and, in some experimental contexts, even a trigger of intention reports. This argument is based on a multi-study analysis of five previously published experiments on neural preparation and subjective experience of intended movement. The results suggest that signals like the RP are among the latest stages of brain processing before movement onset, making them a useful source of information to co-inform or initiate an intention report.

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Abstract

Multiple neuroscientific studies have claimed that neural signals such as the readiness potential (RP) are predictive of action performance well before a person reports to experience an intention to act. Much literature has focused on assessing the consequences of this priority for agency, responsibility and free will. Rather than being the cause of an intention experience or action, we believe that the RP may function as an ingredient and, in some experimental contexts, even as a trigger of intention reports. In this paper, we argue for this by focusing on the informational role of the brain in the generation of intention reports. To do so, we conduct a multi-study analysis of five of our previously published experiments on the neural preparation and subjective experience of intended movement across various experimental contexts. Based on these novel results, we argue that signals like the RP are among the latest stages of brain processing before movement onset, making them a useful source of information to (co-) inform and/or initiate an intention report.