Motor dominance and movement-outcome congruency influence the electrophysiological correlates of sensory attenuation for self-induced visual stimuli.

This study explores the impact of movement-outcome congruency and motor dominance on the action-associated modulations of early visual event-related potentials (ERPs). Employing the contingent paradigm, participants with varying degrees of motor dominance were exposed to stimuli depicting left or right human hands in the corresponding visual hemifields. Stimuli were either passively observed or evoked by voluntary button-presses with the dominant or non-dominant hand, in a manner that was either congruent or incongruent with stimulus laterality and hemifield. Early occipital responses (C1 and P1 components) revealed modulations consistent with sensory attenuation (SA) for self-evoked stimuli. Our findings suggest that sensory attenuation during the initial stages of visual processing (C1 component) is a general phenomenon across all degrees of handedness and stimulus/movement combinations. However, the magnitude of C1 suppression was modulated by handedness and movement-stimulus congruency, reflecting stronger SA in right-handed participants for stimuli depicting the right hand, when elicited by actions of the corresponding hand, and measured above the contralateral occipital lobe. P1 modulation suggested concurrent but opposing influences of attention and sensory prediction, with more pronounced suppression following stimulus-congruent button-presses over the hemisphere contralateral to movement, especially in left-handed individuals. We suggest that effects of motor dominance on the degree of SA may stem from functional/anatomical asymmetries in the processing of body parts (C1) and attention networks (P1). Overall, our results demonstrate the modulating effect of hand dominance and movement-outcome congruency on SA, underscoring the need for deeper exploration of their interplay. Additional empirical evidence in this direction could substantiate a premotor account for action-associated modulation of early sensory processing in the visual domain.

A novel experimental paradigm with improved ecological validity reveals robust action-associated enhancement of the N1 visual event-related potential in healthy adults.

The association between an action and its sensory consequence has been linked to our sense of agency (SoA). While ecological validity is crucial in investigating such a complex phenomenon, previous paradigms focusing on the cortical analysis of movement-related images used simplified experimental protocols. Here, we examined the influence of action-associated predictive processes on visual event-related potentials (ERPs) in a paradigm that models everyday actions more precisely, using a commercial gesture control device, ecological stimuli depicting a human hand and a behavioural training to reinforce the sense of control over action outcomes. We assessed whether a more natural setup would result in robust ERP modifications following self-initiated movements relative to passive viewing of the same images. We found no compelling evidence for amplitude modulation for the early occipital C1 and P1 components. Crucially, we observed strong action-associated amplitude enhancement for the posterior N1, an effect that was not present in our previous study that relied on conventional button-presses. We propose that the N1 effect in our ecologically more valid paradigm can either reflect stronger attentional amplification of domain-specific visual processes following self-initiated actions, or indicate that sensory predictions in the visual N1 latency range manifest in larger (rather than reduced) ERPs. Overall, our novel approach utilizing a gesture-control device can be a potent tool for investigating the behavioural and neural manifestations of SoA in the visual modality.

Action-associated modulation of visual event-related potentials evoked by abstract and ecological stimuli.

This study investigated the influence of action-associated predictive processes on visual ERPs. In two experiments, we sought evidence for sensory attenuation (SA) indexed by ERP amplitude reductions for self-induced stimuli when compared to passive viewing of the same images. We assessed if SA is (a) present for both ecological and abstract stimuli (pictures depicting hands or checkerboards), (b) modulated by the degree of stimulus predictability (certain or uncertain action-effect contingencies), and (c) sensitive to laterality of hand movements (dominant or subdominant hand actions). We found reduced occipital responses in the early 77-90 ms time interval (C1 component), irrespective of stimulus type, predictability, or the laterality of hand movements. However, the subsequent P1 component was increased (rather than reduced) for all action-associated stimuli. In addition, this P1 effect was influenced by the degree of stimulus predictability for ecological stimuli only. Finally, the posterior N1 component was not modulated by self-initiated actions. Overall, our findings indicate that movement-related predictive processes attenuate early visual responses. Moreover, we propose that amplitude modulations in the P1 time range reflect the interaction between expectation-based SA and attention-associated amplitude enhancements. These results can have implications for assessing the influence of action-associated predictions on visual processing in psychiatric disorders characterized by aberrant sensory predictions and alterations in hemispheric asymmetry, such as schizophrenia.