Abstract
The present fMRI study investigated the central assumptions of ideomotor theory that actions become associated with their sensory consequences. Furthermore, we tested whether sensory effects can also become associated with the voluntary omission of an action. In a training phase, participants had to decide between executing an action and not executing it. Both decisions were followed by a specific effect tone. In the test phase, the participants had to carry out actions without hearing the effect tone. They either had to decide whether to execute an action or not or were instructed to execute an action or not. Our results reveal an increased activity in the auditory cortex elicited by responses that formerly elicited a tone—namely, self-chosen actions and self-chosen nonactions. Moreover, we found binding effects for stimulus-cued actions, but not for stimulus-cued nonactions. These findings support ideomotor theory by showing that a link exists between actions and their effects. Furthermore, our data demonstrate on a neural level that effect tones can become associated with intentionally not acting, therewith supporting the idea of a binding between the voluntary omission of an action and its effects in the environment.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Brett, M., Anton, J.-C., Valabregue, R., & Poline, J.-B. (2002). Region of interest analysis using an SPM toolbox [Abstract]. NeuroImage, 16(2, Suppl. 1).
Elsner, B., & Hommel, B. (2001). Effect of anticipation and action control. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 27, 229–240.
Goldberg, G. (1985). Supplementary motor area structure and function: Review and hypothesis. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 8, 567–616.
Greenwald, A. G. (1970). Sensory feedback mechanisms in performance control: With special reference to the ideo-motor mechanism. Psychological Review, 77, 73–99.
Hommel, B. (1996). The cognitive representation of action: Automatic integration of perceived action effects. Psychological Research, 59, 176–186.
James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology. New York: Dover.
Kühn, S., & Brass, M. (2009). When doing nothing is an option: The neural correlates of deciding whether to act or not. NeuroImage, 46, 1187–1193.
Kühn, S., Elsner, B., Prinz, W., & Brass, M. (2009). Busy doing nothing: Evidence for nonaction—effect binding. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 542–549.
Kühn, S., Gevers, W., & Brass, M. (2009). The neural correlates of intending not to do something. Journal of Neurophysiology, 101, 1913–1920.
Kühn, S., Keizer, A., Rombouts, S. A. R. B., & Hommel, B. (2011). The functional and neural mechanisms of action preparation: Roles of EBA and FFA in voluntary action control. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23, 214–220.
Kunde, W. (2004). Response priming by supraliminal and subliminal action effects. Psychological Research, 68, 91–96.
Lotze, R. H. (1852). Medicinische Psychologie oder Physiologie der Seele [Medical psychology or physiology of the soul]. Leipzig: Weidmann’sche Buchhandlung.
Picard, N., & Strick, P. L. (2001). Imaging the premotor areas. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 11, 663–672.
Prinz, W. (1997). Perception and action planning. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 9, 129–154.
van Strien, J. W. (1992). Classificatie van linksen rechtshandige proefpersonen [Classification of left- and right-handed test subjects]. Nederlandes Tijschrift voor de Psychologie en Haar Grensgebieden, 47, 88–92.
Ward, B. D. (2000). Simultaneous inference for fMRI data. AFNI Alpha-Sim Documentation. Milwaukee: Medical College of Wisconsin.
Ziessler, M., & Nattkemper, D. (2002). Effect anticipation in action planning. In W. Prinz & B. Hommel (Eds.), Common mechanisms in perception and action: Attention and performance XIX (pp. 645–672). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ziessler, M., Nattkemper, D., & Frensch, P. A. (2004). The role of anticipation and intention in the learning of effects of self-performed action. Psychological Research, 68, 163–175.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
The research was funded by a special research fund (BOF, University of Ghent).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kühn, S., Brass, M. Planning not to do something: Does intending not to do something activate associated sensory consequences?. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience 10, 454–459 (2010). https://doi.org/10.3758/CABN.10.4.454
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/CABN.10.4.454