Anticipating the consequences of action: an fMRI study of intention-based task preparation.
A key component of task preparation may be to anticipate the consequences of task-appropriate actions. This task switching study examined whether such type of "intentional" preparatory control relies on the presentation of explicit action effects. Preparatory BOLD activation in a condition with task-specific motion effect feedback was compared to identical task conditions with accuracy feedback only. Switch-related activation was found selectively in the effect feedback condition in the middle mid-frontal gyrus and in the anterior intraparietal sulcus. Consistent with research on attentional control, the posterior superior parietal lobule exhibited switch-related preparatory activation irrespective of feedback type. To conclude, preparatory control can occur via complementary attentional and intentional neural mechanisms depending on whether meaningful task-specific action effects lead to the formation of explicit effect representations.
Ruge
Hannes
H
Neuroimaging Center, Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. ruge@psychologie.tu-dresden.de
Müller
Sven C
SC
Braver
Todd S
TS
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D030141:Feedback, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D033182:Intention; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult