Visual Sensory Attenuation in Self-Generated Movements and the Role of Data Analysis Choices: A Re-examination of Neural Mechanisms

Sensory attenuation refers to the phenomenon where self-generated stimuli are perceived as less intense than externally generated ones, a process that is crucial for distinguishing between self and external actions. This study investigates the neural mechanisms underlying sensory attenuation, particularly focusing on the discrepancies observed between two recent studies by Lubinus et al. (2022) and van Kemenade et al. (in prep.). Both studies employed similar experimental designs to explore sensory attenuation in the visual domain but arrived at opposing conclusions—one reporting suppression and the other enhancement of the BOLD response to self-generated stimuli. By re-analyzing Lubinus et al.'s data and incorporating a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) analysis, we aimed to determine whether differences in data modeling could explain these contrasting results. Our findings suggest that the choice of data analysis significantly influences the observed neural responses, with earlier activation in sensory areas potentially playing a critical role in the perceived suppression or enhancement effects. These results support the hypothesis of a pre-activation mechanism in the brain for self-generated stimuli, which may explain the variability in sensory attenuation findings across different studies.