A review of contemporary ideomotor theory

Subliminal strengthening: improving older individuals' physical function over time with an implicit-age-stereotype intervention

Negative age stereotypes that older individuals assimilate from their culture predict detrimental outcomes, including worse physical function. We examined, for the first time, whether positive age stereotypes, presented subliminally across multiple sessions in the community, would lead to improved outcomes. Each of 100 older individuals (age=61-99 years, M=81) was randomly assigned to an implicit-positive-age-stereotype-intervention group, an explicit-positive-age-stereotype-intervention group, a combined implicit- and explicit-positive-age-stereotype-intervention group, or a control group. Interventions occurred at four 1-week intervals. The implicit intervention strengthened positive age stereotypes, which strengthened positive self-perceptions of aging, which, in turn, improved physical function. The improvement in these outcomes continued for 3 weeks after the last intervention session. Further, negative age stereotypes and negative self-perceptions of aging were weakened. For all outcomes, the implicit intervention's impact was greater than the explicit intervention's impact. The physical-function effect of the implicit intervention surpassed a previous study's 6-month-exercise-intervention's effect with participants of similar ages. The current study's findings demonstrate the potential of directing implicit processes toward physical-function enhancement over time.

Role of an ideomotor mechanism in number processing

The ideomotor principle predicts that the anticipation of expected sensory consequences precedes and controls voluntary goal-directed movements. Recent studies have revealed that an ideomotor mechanism could also support the link between finger movements and number processing. However, it is unknown whether such a mechanism is devoted to number processing per se, that is, without associated movement. In three experiments, we tested whether the ideomotor mechanism was also involved in a verbal number production task without associated goal-directed and motor dimensions. We tested this hypothesis in a response-effect (R-E) paradigm generally used to assess the ideomotor mechanisms. The results of Experiment 1 revealed a compatibility effect both in a stimulus-response task and an R-E task, suggesting the involvement of an ideomotor mechanism during number processing. More importantly, Experiment 2 revealed that performance in a motor imagery task correlated with the R-E compatibility effect, whereas performance in a visual imagery task did not, suggesting a distinct motor imagery contribution to R-E compatibility. Finally, Experiment 3 showed a strong R-E compatibility effect in a verbal word production task, but the correlations with motor or visual imagery tasks were not observed. Altogether, these findings suggest that ideomotor mechanisms play a specific and functional role in number processing.

A conceptual review on action-perception coupling in the musicians' brain: what is it good for?

Experience with a sensorimotor task, such as practicing a piano piece, leads to strong coupling of sensory (visual or auditory) and motor cortices. Here we review behavioral and neurophysiological (M/EEG, TMS and fMRI) research exploring this topic using the brain of musicians as a model system. Our review focuses on a recent body of evidence suggesting that this form of coupling might have (at least) two cognitive functions. First, it leads to the generation of equivalent predictions (concerning both when and what event is more likely to occur) during both perception and production of music. Second, it underpins the common coding of perception and action that supports the integration of the motor output of multiple musicians’ in the context of joint musical tasks. Essentially, training-based coupling of perception and action might scaffold the human ability to represent complex (structured) actions and to entrain multiple agents—via reciprocal prediction and adaptation—in the pursuit of shared goals.

Sensory-motor properties of past actions bias memory in a recognition task

The aim of this study was to show that sensory-motor consequences of past actions form part of memory trace components cued by current experience. In a first task participants had to learn a list of words. Then in a guessing task they played against the computer. Finally, in a recognition task, they had to judge if the words were or were not present in the learning task. Words appeared either in the colour associated with success or failure in the guessing task, or in a non-informative colour. In the first experiment, results show that when the words to be judged were in the colour associated with success, participants answered faster and produced more "old" responses than when the words to be judged were in the colour associated with failure in the previous task. Moreover, when the words to be judged were in the colour associated with failure, participants were slower and produced less "old" responses than when the words were in a colour not informative of success or failure. The second experiment confirms that the results obtained in Experiment 1 were linked to the sensory-motor consequences of past actions associated with the colour and not to the colour itself.

The role of effect grouping in free-choice response selection

Which motor actions are preferred to replace an initially planned but momentary not executable action? Previous research (Khan, Mourton, Buckolz, Adams, & Hayes, 2010, Acta Psychologica) suggests that anatomical constraints seem to be a major determinant for such choices: For example, participants more frequently chose to respond with the finger homologous to the prepared one. We argue that in this case finger homology is confounded with action effect similarity, and action effects have been ascribed a crucial role in action selection. We report two experiments. Experiment 1 replicated the results obtained by Khan et al. In Experiment 2, we introduced visual action effects in the paradigm. Results from this experiment clearly point to a role of effect similarity in addition to mere finger homology status for the choice frequency effect.

The prediction of visual stimuli influences auditory loudness discrimination

The brain combines information from different senses to improve performance on perceptual tasks. For instance, auditory processing is enhanced by the mere fact that a visual input is processed simultaneously. However, the sensory processing of one modality is itself subject to diverse influences. Namely, perceptual processing depends on the degree to which a stimulus is predicted. The present study investigated the extent to which the influence of one processing pathway on another pathway depends on whether or not the stimulation in this pathway is predicted. We used an action–effect paradigm to vary the match between incoming and predicted visual stimulation. Participants triggered a bimodal stimulus composed of a Gabor and a tone. The Gabor was either congruent or incongruent compared to an action–effect association that participants learned in an acquisition phase.We tested the influence of action–effect congruency on the loudness perception of the tone. We observed that an incongruent–task-irrelevant Gabor stimulus increases participant’s sensitivity to loudness discrimination. An identical result was obtained for a second condition in which the visual stimulus was predicted by a cue instead of an action. Our results suggest that prediction error is a driving factor of the crossmodal interplay between vision and audition.

Directive and incentive functions of affective action consequences: an ideomotor approach

Five experiments examined whether affective consequences become associated with the responses producing them and whether anticipations of positive and negative action outcomes influence action control differently. In a learning phase, one response produced pleasant and another response unpleasant visual effects. In a subsequent test phase, the same actions were carried out in response to a neutral feature of affective stimuli. Results showed that responses were faster when the irrelevant valence of the response cue matched the valence of the response outcome, but only when the responses still produced outcomes. These results suggest that affective action consequences have a directive function in that they facilitate the selection of the associated response over other responses, even when the response outcome is unpleasant (Experiment 4A). Results of another experiment showed that affective action consequences can also have an incentive function in that responses with pleasant outcomes are generally facilitated relative to responses with unpleasant outcomes. However, this motivational effect was seen only in a free-choice test (Experiment 5). The results suggest that behavioral impulses induced by ideomotor processes are constrained by the motivational evaluation of the anticipated action outcome. A model that integrates motivational factors into ideomotor theory is presented.

Expectation mismatch: differences between self-generated and cue-induced expectations

Expectation of upcoming stimuli and tasks can lead to improved performance, if the anticipated situation occurs, while expectation mismatch can lead to less efficient processing. Researchers have used methodological approaches that rely on either self-generated expectations (predictions) or cue-induced expectations to investigate expectation mismatch effects. Differentiating these two types of expectations for different contents of expectation such as stimuli, responses, task sets and conflict level, we review evidence suggesting that self-generated expectations lead to larger facilitating effects and conflict effects on the behavioral and neural level - as compared to cue-based expectations. On a methodological level, we suggest that self-generated as compared to cue-induced expectations allow for a higher amount of experimental control in many experimental designs on expectation effects. On a theoretical level, we argue for qualitative differences in how cues vs. self-generated expectations influence performance. While self-generated expectations might generally involve representing the expected event in the focus of attention in working memory, cues might only lead to such representations under supportive circumstances (i.e., cue of high validity and attended).

Using tools with real and imagined tool movements

When using lever tools, subjects have to deal with two, not necessarily concordant effects of their motor behavior: the body-related proximal effects, like tactile sensations from the moving hand, and/or more external distal effects, like the moving effect points of the lever. As a consequence, spatial compatibility relationships between stimulus (S; at which the effect points of the lever aim at), responding hand (R) and effect point of the lever (E) play a critical role in response generation. In the present study we examine whether the occurrence of compatibility effects needs real tool movements or whether a similar response pattern can be already evoked by pure mental imaginations of the tool effects. In general, response times and errors observed with real and imagined tool movements showed a similar pattern of results, but there were also differences. With incompatible relationships and thus more difficult tasks, response times were reduced with imagined tool movements than compared with real tool movements. On the contrary, with compatible relationships and thus high overlap between proximal and distal action effects, response times were increased with imagined tool movements. Results are only in parts consistent with the ideomotor theory of motor control.

Neurocognitive mechanisms of perception-action coordination: a review and theoretical integration

The present analysis aims at a theoretical integration of, and a systems-neuroscience perspective on, a variety of historical and contemporary views on perception-action coordination (PAC). We set out to determine the common principles or lawful linkages between sensory and motor systems that explain how perception is action-oriented and how action is perceptually guided. To this end, we analyze the key ingredients to such an integrated framework, examine the architecture of dual-system conjectures of PAC, and endeavor in an historical analysis of the key characteristics, mechanisms, and phenomena of PACs. This analysis will reveal that dual-systems views are in need of fundamental re-thinking, and its elements will be amalgamated with current views on action-oriented predictive processing into a novel integrative theoretical framework (IMPPACT: Impetus, Motivation, and Prediction in Perception-Action Coordination theory). From this framework and its neurocognitive architecture we derive a number of non-trivial predictions regarding conative, motive-driven PAC. We end by presenting a brief outlook on how IMPPACT might present novel insights into certain pathologies and into action expertise.

Mental representation and motor imagery training

Research in sports, dance and rehabilitation has shown that basic action concepts (BACs) are fundamental building blocks of mental action representations. BACs are based on chunked body postures related to common functions for realizing action goals. In this paper, we outline issues in research methodology and an experimental method, the structural dimensional analysis of mental representation (SDA-M), to assess action-relevant representational structures that reflect the organization of BACs. The SDA-M reveals a strong relationship between cognitive representation and performance if complex actions are performed. We show how the SDA-M can improve motor imagery training and how it contributes to our understanding of coaching processes. The SDA-M capitalizes on the objective measurement of individual mental movement representations before training and the integration of these results into the motor imagery training. Such motor imagery training based on mental representations (MTMR) has been applied successfully in professional sports such as golf, volleyball, gymnastics, windsurfing, and recently in the rehabilitation of patients who have suffered a stroke.

The temporal dynamics of the perceptual consequences of action-effect prediction

An essential aspect of voluntary action control is the ability to predict the perceptual effects of our actions. Although the influence of action-effect prediction on humans' behavior and perception is unequivocal, it remains unclear when action-effect prediction is generated by the brain. The present study investigates the dynamics of action effect anticipation by tracing the time course of its perceptual consequences. Participants completed an acquisition phase during which specific actions (left and right key-presses) were associated with specific visual effects (upward and downward dots motion). In the test phase they performed a 2 AFC identification task in which they were required to indicate whether the dots moved upward or downward. To isolate any effects of action-effect prediction on perception, participants were presented with congruent and incongruent dot motion in which the association participants learned in the previous acquisition phase was respected and violated, respectively. Crucially, to assess the temporal dynamics of action prediction, congruent and incongruent stimuli were presented at different intervals before or after action execution. We observed higher sensitivity (d') to motion discrimination in congruent vs. incongruent trials only when stimuli were presented from about 220ms before the action to 280ms after the action. The temporal dynamics of our effect suggest that action-effect prediction modulates perception at later stages of motor preparation.

Auditory imagery and the poor-pitch singer

The vocal imitation of pitch by singing requires one to plan laryngeal movements on the basis of anticipated target pitch events. This process may rely on auditory imagery, which has been shown to activate motor planning areas. As such, we hypothesized that poor-pitch singing, although not typically associated with deficient pitch perception, may be associated with deficient auditory imagery. Participants vocally imitated simple pitch sequences by singing, discriminated pitch pairs on the basis of pitch height, and completed an auditory imagery self-report questionnaire (the Bucknell Auditory Imagery Scale). The percentage of trials participants sung in tune correlated significantly with self-reports of vividness for auditory imagery, although not with the ability to control auditory imagery. Pitch discrimination was not predicted by auditory imagery scores. The results thus support a link between auditory imagery and vocal imitation.

The Effect of Visual Degradation on Anticipatory and Compensatory Steering Control

It has long been held that steering a vehicle is subserved by two distinct visual processes, a compensatory one for maintaining lane position and an anticipatory one for previewing the curvature of the upcoming road. In this study, we investigated the robustness of these two steering control processes by systematically degrading their visual inputs. Performance was measured at the level of vehicle position and at the level of the actions on the steering wheel. The results show that the compensatory process is more robust to visual degradation than the anticipatory process. The results are also consistent with the idea that steering is under the supervision of a combination of compensatory and anticipatory mechanisms, although they suggest that the quality of the sensory information will determine how information is combined.

Target selection bias transfers across different response actions

Target selection is biased by recent experience. For example, a selected target feature may be stored in memory and bias selection on future trials, such that objects matching that feature are "primed" for selection. In the present study, we examined the role of action history in selection biases. Participants searched for a uniquely colored object. Pretrial cues indicated whether participants should respond with a keypress or a reach movement. If the representation of the feature that biases selection is critically bound with its associated action, we would expect priming effects to be restricted to cases where both the response mode and target color are repeated. However, we found that responses to the target were faster when the target color was repeated, even when the response switched from a reach to a keypress, or vice versa. Priming effects were even observed after "no-go" trials in which a response was withheld, and priming effects transferred across response modes when eye movement recordings ensured that participants did not saccade to the target. These results demonstrate that target features are represented in memory separately from their associated actions and can bias selection on subsequent trials even when a different mode of action output is required.

Action-based effects on music perception

The classical, disembodied approach to music cognition conceptualizes action and perception as separate, peripheral processes. In contrast, embodied accounts of music cognition emphasize the central role of the close coupling of action and perception. It is a commonly established fact that perception spurs action tendencies. We present a theoretical framework that captures the ways in which the human motor system and its actions can reciprocally influence the perception of music. The cornerstone of this framework is the common coding theory, postulating a representational overlap in the brain between the planning, the execution, and the perception of movement. The integration of action and perception in so-called internal models is explained as a result of associative learning processes. Characteristic of internal models is that they allow intended or perceived sensory states to be transferred into corresponding motor commands (inverse modeling), and vice versa, to predict the sensory outcomes of planned actions (forward modeling). Embodied accounts typically refer to inverse modeling to explain action effects on music perception (Leman, 2007). We extend this account by pinpointing forward modeling as an alternative mechanism by which action can modulate perception. We provide an extensive overview of recent empirical evidence in support of this idea. Additionally, we demonstrate that motor dysfunctions can cause perceptual disabilities, supporting the main idea of the paper that the human motor system plays a functional role in auditory perception. The finding that music perception is shaped by the human motor system and its actions suggests that the musical mind is highly embodied. However, we advocate for a more radical approach to embodied (music) cognition in the sense that it needs to be considered as a dynamical process, in which aspects of action, perception, introspection, and social interaction are of crucial importance.

Neural correlates of ideomotor effect anticipations

How does our mind produce physical, goal-directed action of our body? For about 200years, philosophers and psychologists hypothesized the transformation from mind to body to rely on the anticipation of an action's sensory consequences. Whereas this hypothesis received tremendous support from behavioral experiments, the neural underpinnings of action control via such ideomotor effect anticipations are virtually unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study identified the inferior parietal cortex and the parahippocampal gyrus as key regions for this type of action control - setting the stage for a neuroscientific framework for explaining action control by ideomotor effect anticipations and thus enabling a synthesis of psychological and neuroscientific approaches to human action.

Response-effect compatibility defines the natural scrolling direction

OBJECTIVE

We evaluated alternative scrolling methods on non-touch screen computer operating systems by comparing human performance in different scrolling conditions.

BACKGROUND

The scrolling directions on current operating systems are discrepant. Few researchers have investigated how scrolling method influences users performance. The response-effect (R-E) compatibility principle can be used as a theoretical guide.

METHOD

Experiments 1 and 2 involved two successive tasks (scrolling and target content judgment) to simulate how people scroll to acquire and use off-screen information. Performance in R-E compatible and incompatible conditions was compared. Experiment 3 involved a location judgment task to test the influence of target location. Experiments 4 and 5 included a scrolling effect following the location judgment task to test the sufficient role of the scrolling effect.

RESULTS

Overall, responses were facilitated when the response direction was compatible with the forthcoming display-content movement direction (an R-E compatibility effect), when the scrolling effect was task relevant or task irrelevant. A spatial stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility effect attributable to target location was also found. When the scrolling effect was present, there were both R-E and S-R components; the R-E effect was the larger of the two.

CONCLUSION

Scrolling in the direction of content movement yielded the best performance, and the scrolling effect was the main source of the R-E compatibility effect.

APPLICATION

These findings suggest that (a) the R-E compatibility principle may be used as a general design guideline for scrolling and (b) a consistent scrolling method should be available on various operating systems.

Pliers, not fingers: tool-action effect in a motor intention paradigm

Tool-use representations have been suggested to be supported by the representation of hand actions and/or by the representation of tool actions. A major issue is to know which one of these two representations is preferentially activated when people intend to use a tool. To address this issue, we developed a paradigm in which, in 20% of trials, participants had to press a button and actually use pliers to move an object in response to a predefined target symbol. Importantly, two masks hiding the symbols performed "opening" or "closing" actions before symbols appeared. In Experiment 1, participants used normal pliers: Hand's opening actions induced pliers' opening actions and vice versa for hands' closing actions. Results indicated a compatibility effect between masks' actions and pliers' actions. Participants were faster to press the button in response to the target symbol when opening and closing actions of the masks were congruent with the corresponding actions of the hand. In Experiment 2 participants used inverse pliers: Hand's opening actions involved pliers' closing actions and vice versa. In this situation, results showed that the congruency of masks' actions occurred with pliers' actions and not hand's actions. Altogether, these findings demonstrate that intention of use is preferentially based on the representation of tool actions, and have important implications for the domain of neuropsychology of tool use and the theories of goal-directed behavior.

From action representation to action execution: exploring the links between cognitive and biomechanical levels of motor control

Along with superior performance, research indicates that expertise is associated with a number of mediating cognitive adaptations. To this extent, extensive practice is associated with the development of general and task-specific mental representations, which play an important role in the organization and control of action. Recently, new experimental methods have been developed, which allow for investigating the organization and structure of these representations, along with the functional structure of the movement kinematics. In the current article, we present a new approach for examining the overlap between skill representations and motor output. In doing so, we first present an architecture model, which addresses links between biomechanical and cognitive levels of motor control. Next, we review the state of the art in assessing memory structures underlying complex action. Following we present a new spatio-temporal decomposition method for illuminating the functional structure of movement kinematics, and finally, we apply these methods to investigate the overlap between the structure of motor representations in memory and their corresponding kinematic structures. Our aim is to understand the extent to which the output at a kinematic level is governed by representations at a cognitive level of motor control.

Combined visual and motor disorganization in patients with schizophrenia

Cognitive impairments are difficult to relate to clinical symptoms in schizophrenia, partly due to insufficient knowledge on how cognitive impairments interact with one another. Here, we devised a new sequential pointing task requiring both visual organization and motor sequencing. Six circles were presented simultaneously on a touch screen around a fixation point. Participants pointed with the finger each circle one after the other, in synchrony with auditory tones. We used an alternating rhythmic 300/600 ms pattern so that participants performed pairs of taps separated by short intervals of 300 ms. Visual organization was manipulated by using line-segments that grouped the circles two by two, yielding three pairs of connected circles, and three pairs of unconnected circles that belonged to different pairs. This led to three experimental conditions. In the "congruent condition," the pairs of taps had to be executed on circles grouped by connecters. In the "non congruent condition," they were to be executed on the unconnected circles that belonged to different pairs. In a neutral condition, there were no connecters. Twenty two patients with schizophrenia with mild symptoms and 22 control participants performed a series of 30 taps in each condition. Tap pairs were counted as errors when the produced rhythm was inverted (expected rhythm 600/300 = 2; inversed rhythm <1). Error rates in patients with a high level of clinical disorganization were significantly higher in the non-congruent condition than in the two other conditions, contrary to controls and the remaining patients. The tap-tone asynchrony increased in the presence of connecters in both patient groups, but not in the controls. Patients appeared not to integrate the visual organization during the planning phase of action, leading to a large difficulty during motor execution, especially in those patients revealing difficulties in visual organization. Visual motor tapping tasks may help detect those subgroups of patients.

Adaptive control of human action: the role of outcome representations and reward signals

The present paper aims to advance the understanding of the control of human behavior by integrating two lines of literature that so far have led separate lives. First, one line of literature is concerned with the ideomotor principle of human behavior, according to which actions are represented in terms of their outcomes. The second line of literature mainly considers the role of reward signals in adaptive control. Here, we offer a combined perspective on how outcome representations and reward signals work together to modulate adaptive control processes. We propose that reward signals signify the value of outcome representations and facilitate the recruitment of control resources in situations where behavior needs to be maintained or adapted to attain the represented outcome. We discuss recent research demonstrating how adaptive control of goal-directed behavior may emerge when outcome representations are co-activated with positive reward signals.

The shared neural basis of empathy and facial imitation accuracy

Empathy involves experiencing emotion vicariously, and understanding the reasons for those emotions. It may be served partly by a motor simulation function, and therefore share a neural basis with imitation (as opposed to mimicry), as both involve sensorimotor representations of intentions based on perceptions of others' actions. We recently showed a correlation between imitation accuracy and Empathy Quotient (EQ) using a facial imitation task and hypothesised that this relationship would be mediated by the human mirror neuron system. During functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), 20 adults observed novel 'blends' of facial emotional expressions. According to instruction, they either imitated (i.e. matched) the expressions or executed alternative, pre-prescribed mismatched actions as control. Outside the scanner we replicated the association between imitation accuracy and EQ. During fMRI, activity was greater during mismatch compared to imitation, particularly in the bilateral insula. Activity during imitation correlated with EQ in somatosensory cortex, intraparietal sulcus and premotor cortex. Imitation accuracy correlated with activity in insula and areas serving motor control. Overlapping voxels for the accuracy and EQ correlations occurred in premotor cortex. We suggest that both empathy and facial imitation rely on formation of action plans (or a simulation of others' intentions) in the premotor cortex, in connection with representations of emotional expressions based in the somatosensory cortex. In addition, the insula may play a key role in the social regulation of facial expression.

It Takes Two to Imitate

Imitation is assumed to serve crucial functions in social interaction, such as empathy and learning, yet these functions apply only to the imitating observer. In the two experiments reported here, we revealed a distinct function of imitation for the action model: Anticipation of being imitated facilitates the production of overt motor actions. Specifically, anticipated motor responses of social counterparts serve as mental cues for the model to retrieve corresponding motor commands to orchestrate his or her own actions.

Impact of planned movement direction on judgments of visual locations

The present study examined if and how the direction of planned hand movements affects the perceived direction of visual stimuli. In three experiments participants prepared hand movements that deviated regarding direction ("Experiment 1" and "2") or distance relative to a visual target position ("Experiment 3"). Before actual execution of the movement, the direction of the visual stimulus had to be estimated by means of a method of adjustment. The perception of stimulus direction was biased away from planned movement direction, such that with leftward movements stimuli appeared somewhat more rightward than with rightward movements. Control conditions revealed that this effect was neither a mere response bias, nor a result of processing or memorizing movement cues. Also, shifting the focus of attention toward a cued location in space was not sufficient to induce the perceptual bias observed under conditions of movement preparation ("Experiment 4"). These results confirm that characteristics of planned actions bias visual perception, with the direction of bias (contrast or assimilation) possibly depending on the type of the representations (categorical or metric) involved.

Hearing silences: human auditory processing relies on preactivation of sound-specific brain activity patterns

The remarkable capabilities displayed by humans in making sense of an overwhelming amount of sensory information cannot be explained easily if perception is viewed as a passive process. Current theoretical and computational models assume that to achieve meaningful and coherent perception, the human brain must anticipate upcoming stimulation. But how are upcoming stimuli predicted in the brain? We unmasked the neural representation of a prediction by omitting the predicted sensory input. Electrophysiological brain signals showed that when a clear prediction can be formulated, the brain activates a template of its response to the predicted stimulus before it arrives to our senses.

The interaction between attention and motor prediction. An ERP study

Performing a voluntary action involves the anticipation of the intended effect of that action. Interaction with the environment also requires the allocation of attention. However, the effects of attention upon motor predictive processes remain unclear. Here we use a novel paradigm to investigate attention and motor prediction orthogonally. In an acquisition phase, high and low tones were associated with left and right key presses. In the following test phase, tones were presented at random and participants attended to only one ear whilst ignoring tones presented in the unattended ear. In the test phase a tone could therefore be presented at the attended or unattended ear, as well as being congruent or incongruent with prior action-effect learning. We demonstrated early and late effects of attention as well as a later independent motor prediction effect with a larger P3a for incongruent tones. Interestingly, we demonstrated an intermediate interaction, showing an action-effect negativity (NAE) for tones which were unattended, whilst no motor prediction effect was found for attended tones. This interaction pattern suggests that attention and motor prediction are not opposing processes but can both operate to modulate prediction, providing valuable new insight into the relationship between attention and the effects of motor prediction.

On the Nature of Automatically Triggered Approach–Avoidance Behavior

Theory suggests that stimulus evaluations automatically evoke approach–avoidance behavior. However, the extent to which approach–avoidance behavior is triggered automatically is not yet clear. Furthermore, the nature of automatically triggered approach–avoidance behavior is controversial. We review research on two views on the type of approach–avoidance behavior that is triggered automatically (arm flexion/extension, distance change). Present evidence supports the distance-change view and corroborates the notion of an automatic pathway from evaluation to distance-change behavior. We discuss underlying mechanisms (direct stimulus–response links, outcome anticipations, goals) as well as implications regarding the flexibility of the evaluation–behavior link.

Intentional weighting: a basic principle in cognitive control

Human perception and action are tailored to the situation at hand, and thus reflect the current intentions of the perceiver/actor. We suggest that this is achieved by an "intentional-weighting" mechanism. It operates on the cognitive representations of the features of perceived events and produced event--perceptions and actions that is. Intention- or goal-related feature dimensions are weighted more strongly, so that feature values defined on the respective dimension have a stronger impact on information processing, and stimulus and response selection in particular. This article discusses what intentional weighting is, how such a mechanism may work, and how it relates to available research on attention, action planning, and executive control.

A review of case-based reasoning in cognition–action continuum: a step toward bridging symbolic and non-symbolic artificial intelligence

In theories and models of computational intelligence, cognition and action have historically been investigated on separate grounds. We conjecture that the main mechanism of case-based reasoning (CBR) applies to cognitive tasks at various levels and of various granularity, and hence can represent a bridge—or a continuum—between the higher and lower levels of cognition. CBR is an artificial intelligence (AI) method that draws upon the idea of solving a new problem reusing similar past experiences. In this paper, we re-formulate the notion of CBR to highlight the commonalities between higher-level cognitive tasks such as diagnosis, and lower-level control such as voluntary movements of an arm. In this view, CBR is envisaged as a generic process independent from the content and the detailed format of cases. Diagnostic cases and internal representations underlying motor control constitute two instantiations of the case representation. In order to claim such a generic mechanism, the account of CBR needs to be revised so that its position in non-symbolic AI becomes clearer. The paper reviews the CBR literature that targets lower levels of cognition to show how CBR may be considered as a step toward bridging the gap between symbolic and non-symbolic AI.

The influence of action effects in task-switching

According to ideomotor theories, intended effects caused by a certain action are anticipated before action execution. In the present study, we examined the question of whether action effects play a role in cued task-switching. In our study, the participants practiced task-response-effect mappings in an acquisition phase, in which action effects occur after a response in a certain task context. In the ensuing transfer phase, the previously practiced mappings were changed in a random, unpredictable task-response-effect mapping. When changed into unpredictable action-effects, RT as well as switch-costs increased, but this occurred mainly in trials with short preparation time and not with long preparation time. Moreover, switch costs were generally smaller with predictable action-effects than with unpredictable action-effects. This suggests that anticipated task-specific action effects help to activate the relevant task-set before task execution when the task is not yet already prepared based on the cue.

Using neural pattern classifiers to quantify the modularity of conflict-control mechanisms in the human brain

Resolving conflicting sensory and motor representations is a core function of cognitive control, but it remains uncertain to what degree control over different sources of conflict is implemented by shared (domain general) or distinct (domain specific) neural resources. Behavioral data suggest conflict-control to be domain specific, but results from neuroimaging studies have been ambivalent. Here, we employed multivoxel pattern analyses that can decode a brain region's informational content, allowing us to distinguish incidental activation overlap from actual shared information processing. We trained independent sets of "searchlight" classifiers on functional magnetic resonance imaging data to decode control processes associated with stimulus-conflict (Stroop task) and ideomotor-conflict (Simon task). Quantifying the proportion of domain-specific searchlights (capable of decoding only one type of conflict) and domain-general searchlights (capable of decoding both conflict types) in each subject, we found both domain-specific and domain-general searchlights, though the former were more common. When mapping anatomical loci of these searchlights across subjects, neural substrates of stimulus- and ideomotor-specific conflict-control were found to be anatomically consistent across subjects, whereas the substrates of domain-general conflict-control were not. Overall, these findings suggest a hybrid neural architecture of conflict-control that entails both modular (domain specific) and global (domain general) components.

Motivation from control

Human motivation is sensitive to value-to the outcomes of actions. People invest mental and physical resources for obtaining desired results or for stopping and reversing undesired ones. Accordingly, people's motivation is sensitive to information about their standing in relation to outcome attainment ('outcome feedback'). In this paper, we argue and present the first evidence for the existence of another motivational sensitivity in humans-a sensitivity to our degree of control on the environment and hence to information about that control ('control feedback'). We show that when actions have even trivial and constant perceptual effects, participants' motivation to perform is enhanced. We then show that increased motivation is not because more information about task performance is available and that motivation is increased only in conditions in which control over the effects can be firmly established by the mind. We speculate on the implications for understanding motivation, and potentially, physical and mental health.

Instructed task demands and utilization of action effect anticipation

Automatic acquisition of action effect associations may serve as a parsimonious account of how people acquire the basis for intentionally controlled action. However, recent research suggests that learning or the expression of action effect links might depend on whether task demands impose either a stimulus based mode of action control or an intention based action control mode. In the current study we develop a paradigm that allows the mode of action control to be varied via instructions while keeping stimuli identical. Participants were to respond to the location of a cloud of dots. Their actions were followed by predictable visual effects, either consistently congruent or incongruent with the location of the action. In Experiment 1, a displaced new cloud of random dots was presented as a spatial action effect. In Experiment 2 an arrow was presented as effect with a pointing direction congruent or incongruent to the response position. The location of the stimulus in the reference frame was easy to detect in some of the trials while the location of the cloud of dots was completely ambiguous in others. The instruction manipulation targeted the latter trials, suggesting to one group of participants to freely choose a key in a difficult trial, while asking another group to react to their spontaneous impression in the event of a difficult stimulus. In this way, we aimed at rendering actions either as stimulus driven or internally generated. By this we could investigate how effect anticipation changed with practice depending on action mode. We employed the impact of action effect compatibility on speed and choice of action as a measure for action effect anticipation. Our results suggest that action effect associations can be acquired when instructions suggest stimulus based action control or intention based action control. Instructions aiming at the mode of task processing can influence when and how action effect links influence behavior.

Hierarchy of idea-guided action and perception-guided movement

The ideomotor theory of voluntary behavior assumes that the selection and control of a concrete goal-directed movement depends on imagining its direct perceptual consequences. However, this perception-guided assumption neglects the fact that behavioral control entails a hierarchical mechanism wherein conceptual expectations - action goals - can modulate lower level perceptuo-motor representations. In this paper, we focus on the hierarchical nature of voluntary behavior by distinguishing between perceptual representations of images that relate to attainment of concrete movement goals and conceptual representations of ideas that pertain to attainment of action goals. We review the dominant ideomotor principle of the direct perceptuo-motor relation and examine its limitation in the light of the proposed hierarchical view of voluntary behavior. Finally, we offer a revision of the ideomotor principle that allows extension of its explanatory domain from perception-guided movement to conceptual, idea-guided action.

What I Say is What I Get: Stronger Effects of Self-Generated vs. Cue-Induced Expectations in Event-Related Potentials

Expectations regarding future events enable preparatory processes and allow for faster responses to expected stimuli compared to unexpected stimuli. Expectations can have internal sources or follow external cues. While many studies on expectation effects use some form of cueing, a direct comparison with self-generated expectations involving behavioral and psychophysiological measures is lacking. In the present study we compare cue-induced expectations with self-generated expectations that are both expressed verbally in a within-subjects design, measuring behavioral performance, and event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Response time benefits for expected stimuli are much larger when expectations are self-generated as compared to externally cued. Increased amplitudes in both the N2 and P3 components for violations of self-generated expectations suggest that this advantage can at least partially be ascribed to greater perceptual preparation. This goes along with a missing benefit for stimuli matching the expected response only and is mirrored in the lateralized readiness potential (LRP). Taken together, behavioral and ERP findings indicate that self-generated expectations lead to increased premotoric preparation compared to cue-induced expectations. Underlying cognitive or neuronal functional differences between these types of expectation remain a subject for future studies.

The neural substrate of the ideomotor principle revisited: evidence for asymmetries in action-effect learning

Ideomotor theory holds that the perception or anticipatory imagination of action effects activates motor tendencies toward the action that is known to produce these effects, herein referred to as ideomotor response activation (IRA). IRA presupposes that the agent has previously learned which action produces which effects, and that this learning process has created bidirectional associations between the sensory effect codes and the motor codes producing the sensory effects. Here, we refer to this process as ideomotor learning. In the presented fMRI study, we adopted a standard two-phase ideomotor learning paradigm; a mixed between/within-subjects design allowed us to assess the neural substrate of both, IRA and ideomotor learning. We replicated earlier findings of a hand asymmetry in ideomotor processing with significantly stronger IRA by left-hand than right-hand action effects. Crucially, we traced this effect back to more pronounced associative learning for action-contingent effects of the left hand compared with effects of the right hand. In this context, our findings point to the caudate nucleus and the angular gyrus as central structures of the neural network underlying ideomotor learning.

Investigating ideomotor cognition with motorvisual priming paradigms: key findings, methodological challenges, and future directions

Ideomotor theory claims that perceptual representations of action-effects are functionally involved in the planning of actions. Strong evidence for this claim comes from a phenomenon called motorvisual priming. Motorvisual priming refers to the finding that action planning directly affects perception, and that the effects are selective for stimuli that share features with the planned action. Motorvisual priming studies have provided detailed insights into the processing of perceptual representations in action planning. One important finding is that such representations in action planning have a categorical format, whereas metric representations are not anticipated in planning. Further essential findings regard the processing mechanisms and the time course of ideomotor cognition. Perceptual representations of action-effects are first activated by action planning and then bound into a compound representation of the action plan. This compound representation is stabilized throughout the course of the action by the shielding of all involved representations from other cognitive processes. Despite a rapid growth in the number of motorvisual priming studies in the current literature, there are still many aspects of ideomotor cognition which have not yet been investigated. These aspects include the scope of ideomotor processing with regard to action types and stimulus types, as well as the exact nature of the binding and shielding mechanisms involved.

Too Good to be True? Ideomotor Theory from a Computational Perspective

In recent years, Ideomotor Theory has regained widespread attention and sparked the development of a number of theories on goal-directed behavior and learning. However, there are two issues with previous studies' use of Ideomotor Theory. Although Ideomotor Theory is seen as very general, it is often studied in settings that are considerably more simplistic than most natural situations. Moreover, Ideomotor Theory's claim that effect anticipations directly trigger actions and that action-effect learning is based on the formation of direct action-effect associations is hard to address empirically. We address these points from a computational perspective. A simple computational model of Ideomotor Theory was tested in tasks with different degrees of complexity. The model evaluation showed that Ideomotor Theory is a computationally feasible approach for understanding efficient action-effect learning for goal-directed behavior if the following preconditions are met: (1) The range of potential actions and effects has to be restricted. (2) Effects have to follow actions within a short time window. (3) Actions have to be simple and may not require sequencing. The first two preconditions also limit human performance and thus support Ideomotor Theory. The last precondition can be circumvented by extending the model with more complex, indirect action generation processes. In conclusion, we suggest that Ideomotor Theory offers a comprehensive framework to understand action-effect learning. However, we also suggest that additional processes may mediate the conversion of effect anticipations into actions in many situations.