Exploring the role of motor and non-motor predictive mechanisms in sensory attenuation: Perceptual and neurophysiological findings

Sounds that result from our own actions are perceptually and neurophysiologically attenuated compared to sounds with an external origin. This sensory attenuation phenomenon is commonly attributed to prediction processes implicated in motor control. However, accumulating evidence suggests that attenuation effects can also result from prediction processes beyond the motor domain. The aim of the present study was two-fold. First, we attempted to replicate the role of identity-specific motor predictions in sensory attenuation. Second, we set out to examine whether attenuation effects can be observed when tones cannot be predicted from preceding actions, but only from the non-motor cues accompanying them. Participants completed a two-alternative forced choice task on the loudness of tones whose pitch was congruent or incongruent with previously learned key-tone or cue-tone associations. No convincing evidence was observed for identity predictions on a perceptual level nor on a neurophysiological level. However, exploratory analyses revealed that attenuation was more pronounced for participants who first learned to rely on motor (instead of non-motor predictions). Together, these findings suggest that the role of motor identity predictions in sensory attenuation might have to be reconsidered.