Voluntary movements are usually preceded by a slow, negative-going brain signal over motor areas, the so-called readiness potential (RP). To date, the exact nature and causal role of the RP in movement preparation have remained heavily debated. One important open question is whether people can exert conscious control over their RP, for example by learning to suppress it. If people were able to initiate spontaneous movements without eliciting an RP, this would challenge the idea that the RP is a necessary stage of the causal chain leading up to a voluntary movement. We tested the ability of participants to control the magnitude of their RP in a neurofeedback experiment. Participants performed self-initiated movements and after every movement they were provided with immediate feedback about the magnitude of their RP. They were asked to find a mental strategy to perform voluntary movements such that the RPs were as small as possible. We found no evidence that participants were able to to willfully modulate or suppress their RPs while still eliciting voluntary movements. This suggests that the RP might be an involuntary component of voluntary action over which people cannot exert conscious control.

中文翻译：

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如果可以，请抑制我：准备状态的神经反馈

自愿运动通常会在运动区域出现缓慢的负向大脑信号，即所谓的准备潜力（RP）。迄今为止，RP在动作准备中的确切性质和因果作用仍然存在很多争议。一个重要的开放性问题是人们是否可以对RP进行有意识的控制，例如通过学习抑制它。如果人们能够发起自发运动而无需引发RP，这将挑战以下观点：RP是导致自愿运动的因果链的必要阶段。我们在神经反馈实验中测试了参与者控制其RP大小的能力。参与者进行了自我发起的动作，每次动作后，他们都会得到有关其RP大小的即时反馈。他们被要求找到一种执行自愿运动的心理策略，以使安置计划尽可能小。我们没有发现任何证据表明参与者能够在仍然引起自愿运动的同时随意调节或抑制他们的RP。这表明，RP可能是人们无法自觉控制的自愿行动的非自愿组成部分。