Citation

Song JH. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 2017; 372(1718): e2016.0195.

Affiliation

Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, PO Box 1821, Providence, RI 02912, USA joo-hyun_song@brown.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Royal Society of London)

DOI

10.1098/rstb.2016.0195

PMID

28242729

Abstract

Visual scenes are often complex and crowded with many different objects. To interact effectively, we must choose one object at a time as a goal for action. Certain external cues can act as a stop signal, quickly cancelling an ongoing action. Less recognized are internal signals. These can come from recent experience, anticipated action outcomes, cognitive states, and when attention is captured by a salient object. These signals elevate one action plan over alternatives and can quickly modify an initial choice. Here, we focus on these internal processes responsible for selecting, abandoning and modifying action plans. We first highlight how the brain resolves competition among multiple action plans. Critical is the existence of parallel motor planning processes, which allow efficient and timely changes. Then, we discuss how the action system interplays with perception, attention and memory processes to bias action selection and suppress or modify erroneous selections. Subsequently, we show how tracking the continuous modification of action trajectories can provide a tool to read out changes in internal cognitive states. Taken together, we shed light on a broader view that sensorimotor networks can continuously modify actions through simultaneous evaluation of alternative activities in concert with widely distributed perceptual and cognitive networks.This article is part of the themed issue 'Movement suppression: brain mechanisms for stopping and stillness'.

© 2017 The Author(s).

Language: en

Keywords

attention; changes-of-mind; parallel processing; target selection; visually guided action