{"id":268,"date":"2015-10-03T13:17:34","date_gmt":"2015-10-03T18:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/cognitiveneurof\/?p=161"},"modified":"2015-11-24T10:53:38","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:53:38","slug":"whats-controlling-you-intent-vs-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/cognitiveneuroscience\/2015\/10\/03\/whats-controlling-you-intent-vs-action\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Controlling You? Intent vs. Action"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ptg01040696\"<\/a>Imagine you are playing a game of tag. As you run around trying to tag a friend, you accidentally push them into the ground. You are immediately apologetic because you only intended to tag them. However, they interpret your action to mean that you intended to cause them harm. Everyday situations like this occur in which humans intend to perform one task however, the body performs an action opposite to what you wanted. What causes this disconnect between our intent and our resulting action? Why are intent and action connected as so?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Intent vs. Action<\/strong><\/h1>\n

First, let\u2019s define action and intent. Action is defined as \u201cour way of interfacing with the world, and our means of putting all our goals and desires into practice\u201d (Ward 2015). Intent is defined as \u201cthe state of mind in which an act is performed\u201d (Webster). Just from the definitions we can see that these processes rely on one another quite a bit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Emerging Research\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Recent research on robotic prosthetics has shown that these two terms are definitely intertwined. Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have made it possible for quadriplegics to move robotic prosthetics by placing electrodes on the area of the brain that controls movement (Alford, 2015). More specifically, the electrode was placed in the region of the brain that holds the intent to move. Once the subject thinks \u201cI want to grab this cup\u201d, the robotic arm will move to follow this intention. The movements were generally fluid and the subjects were able to perform expert tasks such as a game of rock, paper, scissors. This experiment helped to solidify that intention and action are on the same pathway.<\/span><\/p>\n

Check out this video of a similar experiment at Johns Hopkins University<\/p>\n