Cavazzana Annachiara, Penolazzi Barbara, Begliomini Chiara, Bisiacchi Patrizia Silvia
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 12, 35131, Padova, Italy.
Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
Eur J Neurosci. 2015 Aug;42(3):1889-94. doi: 10.1111/ejn.12937. Epub 2015 May 28.
Intentional binding (IB) refers to the temporal compression between a voluntary action and its sensory effect, and it is considered an implicit measure of sense of agency (SoA), that is, the capacity to control one's own actions. IB has been thoroughly studied from a behavioural point of view but only few studies have investigated its neural underpinnings, always using the same two paradigms. Although providing evidence that the supplementary motor complex is involved, findings are still too scarce to draw definitive conclusions. The aim of the present study was to establish a causal relationship between the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), known for its key role in action planning and initiation, and IB by means of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Participants underwent anodal, cathodal and sham control stimulations during three separate sessions (Experiment I). Subsequently, they underwent the same stimulation protocol (Experiment II) using as control a region potentially involved in the processing of the sensory effects of voluntary action (i.e., the right primary auditory cortex for the auditory effects of action). A significant reduction in IB was found only after stimulation of the pre-SMA, which supports the causal contribution of this prefrontal area in the perceived linkage between action and its effects. As SoA could be disrupted in many psychiatric and neurological diseases, these results have direct clinical relevance as tDCS could be successfully used in this domain in virtue of the promising advantages it offers for rehabilitation.
意向性绑定（IB）指的是自愿行动与其感觉效应之间的时间压缩，它被认为是 agency 感（SoA）的一种隐性测量指标，即控制自身行动的能力。从行为学角度对 IB 进行了深入研究，但仅有少数研究探讨了其神经基础，且始终使用相同的两种范式。尽管有证据表明辅助运动复合体参与其中，但研究结果仍然太少，无法得出明确结论。本研究的目的是通过经颅直流电刺激（tDCS），在以行动规划和发起中的关键作用而闻名的补充运动前区（pre-SMA）与 IB 之间建立因果关系。参与者在三个独立的阶段接受阳极、阴极和假对照刺激（实验一）。随后，他们采用作为对照的一个可能参与自愿行动感觉效应处理的区域（即针对行动的听觉效应的右侧初级听觉皮层），接受相同的刺激方案（实验二）。仅在刺激 pre-SMA 后发现 IB 显著降低，这支持了该前额叶区域在行动与其效应之间的感知联系中的因果作用。由于 SoA 在许多精神和神经疾病中可能受到干扰，这些结果具有直接的临床相关性，因为鉴于 tDCS 在康复方面具有的可观优势，它可以在该领域成功应用。
