The role of uncertainty on the influence of voluntary actions on temporal preparation.

• Grant number: 24/11864-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: November 01, 2024
• End date: June 15, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Experimental Psychology
• Principal Investigator: André Mascioli Cravo
• Grantee: Alexandre de Pontes Nobre
• Supervisor: Georgios Michalareas
• Host Institution: Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição (CMCC). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Max Planck Society, Frankfurt, Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/11973-6 - Action and time: effects of voluntary actions on temporal preparation and learning of temporal patterns, BP.PD

Abstract

In our interactions with the environment, we must often prepare to respond to stimuli initiated not only by the external world but also by our voluntary actions. Previous studies have shown that temporal preparation for visual stimuli changes when those stimuli are initiated by voluntary actions compared to when they are initiated by the external environment. Crucially, this change seems to occur only when there is temporal uncertainty about the interval that precedes the stimulus, suggesting that the motor cortex may be involved in uncertainty computation when the interval duration varies unpredictably. In this project, we will investigate whether variations in such uncertainty modulate the effect of voluntary actions on temporal preparation. Participants will perform a visual orientation discrimination task on Gabors preceded by one of two possible foreperiods. Foreperiods will be initiated by the computer (external condition) or by a voluntary action (action condition). The duration of the foreperiods will vary within blocks of trials. The distribution of foreperiod durations will vary between blocks, in order to manipulate participants' temporal uncertainty. We will compute slopes of reaction time curves as a function of foreperiod duration and compare those slopes between conditions (action vs external) and foreperiod distributions to investigate how temporal uncertainty interacts with voluntary actions in temporal preparation. The results from this experiment will contribute to the understanding of temporal preparation and how the motor system is involved in temporal processing and uncertainty.