Influence of conflict in response selection on the Bereitschaftspotential

• Grant number: 16/03888-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2016
• End date: May 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal Investigator: Renato Teodoro Ramos
• Grantee: Carolina Yuri Ogawa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psiquiatria Doutor Antonio Carlos Pacheco e Silva (IPq). Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP (HCFMUSP). Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Bereitschaftspotential (BP) is an electroencephalographic potential that precedes spontaneous voluntary movements and its meaning remains controversial. The aim of the present study is to contribute to the BP understanding by testing the hypothesis that this potential reflects the supplementary motor cortex (SMC) activation associated to doubt, or conflict, in response to selection process. Under this perspective, we verified in a previous study that the will to act, or the deliberate timing of actions, indeed implicates in a substantial increase of the BP amplitude. To continue the investigation, relying on EEG recordings from about 30 subjects, we are testing whether the choice of how an action is executed leads to a similar BP effect. For this purpose, we will compare the BP obtained in two experimental conditions in which the subjects spontaneously initiate their movements without explicit controlling the timing of their actions: in one condition, the choice between two movement alternatives is made freely; in the other, the movement is predetermined. (AU)