Awareness motor intention and inhibitory control: the role of reactive and proactive components

An open problem in Libet task literature regards the relationship between the moment in which awareness of motor intention arises and inhibition efficiency in response to an external stimulus (taking into account both the reactive and proactive mechanisms). In this study, 112 volunteers performed the Libet’s clock task to evaluate motor intention awareness, a Stop Signal Task (SST) to evaluate the inhibitory efficiency in its mainly reactive component, and a Cued Go/No-Go to evaluate the inhibitory efficiency in its mainly proactive dimension. We observed that a delayed insurgence of the awareness of motor intent is related to a better reactive inhibitory efficiency. No relationship was observed with the proactive component.