Abstract :
Keywords Self-induced sound; Sensory attenuation; Motor equivalence; Force optimization Highlights * Motor-parameter dependent ERPs overlap sensory ERPs elicited by action effects. * Our results show that motor differences bias the estimation of such auditory ERPs. * Action-related N1 attenuation might be over-, while P2 attenuation underestimated. * Despite this bias, our results suggest a genuine action-related attenuation effect. Abstract Event-related potential (ERP) studies investigating the processing of self-induced stimuli often rely on the assumption that ballistic actions and motor ERPs are constant across different sets of action effects. Since recent studies challenge this motor equivalence assumption, we examined whether neglecting effect-related motor differences can bias the estimation of auditory ERPs in a typical action-related ERP attenuation paradigm. We increased action variability with a force production task and selected an event subset in which the motor equivalence assumption was true. ERP attenuation estimated in this subset was compared with attenuation obtained in the standard task, where motor differences were not controlled. Violation of the motor equivalence assumption resulted in a positive deflection overlapping auditory ERPs elicited by self-induced sounds, leading to the overestimation of N1- and underestimation of P2-attenuation. This demonstrates that sensory-effect-related motor differences should be considered when separating sensory and motor components in ERPs elicited by self-induced stimuli. Author Affiliation: (a) Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary (b) Department of Psychology III, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany (c) Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary (d) Institute of Psychology, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, Budapest, Hungary * Correspondence to: Department of Psychology III, University of Würzburg, Röntgenring 11, 97070 Würzburg, Germany. Article History: Received 31 October 2021; Revised 5 July 2022; Accepted 8 July 2022 Byline: Bence Neszmélyi [bence.neszmelyi@uni-wuerzburg.de] (a,b,*), Dávid Nevelo (c), János Horváth (a,d)