Pre-movement alpha oscillations in motor cortex shape sense of agency

A new study published in Nature Communications provides important insights into the neural mechanisms underpinning the sense of agency—the subjective experience of controlling one's own actions.

The sense of agency is fundamental to self-awareness and motor control, yet its neural basis remains only partially understood. In this study, led by Tommaso Bertoni, we explored the hypothesis that oscillations in the theta-alpha frequency range—known to coordinate long-range brain connectivity—play a critical role in comparing intentions and actions across distributed cortical networks.

To test this, we combined invasive and non-invasive brain-machine interface (BMI) paradigms. In a tetraplegic patient using an implanted BMI to control a robotic hand, the phase of low-alpha oscillations in the primary motor cortex (M1) prior to movement onset reliably predicted the participant's judgments of agency. In a complementary EEG-BMI study with healthy participants, pre-movement alpha activity in M1 and the supplementary motor area (SMA) correlated both with agency ratings and with dynamic changes in functional connectivity to parietal, temporal, and prefrontal regions.

These findings suggest that phase-dependent gating via alpha oscillations may serve as a key mechanism for sensorimotor integration and the construction of the sense of agency.

This work also highlights the potential of combining BMI technologies with electrophysiological monitoring to probe fundamental aspects of conscious experience and motor cognition. The study is the result of a longstanding and fruitful collaboration with Ali Rezai and colleagues at the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI), West Virginia, focused on the translational application of BMI technologies to restore function in patients with brain disorders and severe motor impairments.