Our brains are constantly preparing for action

I already introduced you to the Behavioral model by BJ Fogg from Stanford University, which explains the determinants of action. According to him, to act, three ingredients must be present at the same time: motivation, a sense of capacity and a trigger. In this article, I suggest that you come back to the concept of trigger.
The trigger can be internal (for example: a thought, a physical sensation) or external (a note seen, a name heard, or a situation encountered). In all cases, to be effective (i.e. treated by our cognitive system) it needs to be the center of our attention for a few moments. This is the first condition for triggering a voluntary movement.

‍At the brain level, what leads us to perform an action? What is the role of the trigger? How does its perception activate the motor cortex until it causes a real transition to action?

I suggest that you answer these questions thanks to the work of Paul Cisek, a researcher at the University of Montreal and an expert in the brain mechanisms involved in decision-making and the planning of voluntary movements.

Step 1: attentional focus

We need to focus our attention to perceive the trigger.‍

Our brain is not able to process an entire scene instantly. In fact, to understand our environment, we must continuously do “attentional focus” on the various elements that make up the scene. This is done through attention. The main function of attention is to sort through the multitude of information we perceive (Léger, 2016): attention, as a cognitive process, makes it possible to select a part of this field which will then be processed by the brain, while inhibiting irrelevant information.
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To fully understand, let me give you an example. At work, when you focus on a task, you are cognitively dealing only with items that are relevant to that task. So you focus attentively. Let's say that in the progress of this task, you perceive a blocking point that requires asking a question to a colleague. This is a trigger, capable of initiating the course of action.

Step 2: preparing actions

Our cortex identifies and prepares a set of possible behaviors.‍

It is only according to what we perceive of the environment (i.e. the opportunities it presents to act) that our brain will prepare for action. This stage of preparing for action is essential since it will allow the brain to specify all possible actions following the perception of the trigger. So, in reality, the brain prepares several possible actions.
In other words, following the perception of an object or a situation (i.e. the trigger), we prepare at the same time all the behaviors that we could adopt in response to this context: the (representations of) different possible actions are materialized in our brain by the simultaneous activation of different populations of neurons. Attention: all this is happening very quickly, without us being aware of it. This is what Paul Cisek observes with brain imaging. He concludes that competition by mutual inhibition between the different actions (i.e. the different populations of neurons) systematically takes place in our brain before the action.

Let's go back to our example: the encounter of a blocking point (associated with sufficient motivation and a feeling of suitable capacity) pushes you to really ask for help from a collaborator (i.e., the target action). However, there are several options available to you:

• you can go up to his office and talk to him in person,
• you can write him an email describing your problem and then clearly asking for the information you are missing,
• or you can call him and explain things in person.
  

According to Paul Cisek, these three behavioral options would be considered exactly at the same time in the brain, causing the different populations of neurons to be activated. And for an action to be taken for real, one of the populations of neurons must win, in the sense that its activation lasts until the motor command is sent (while the activity of the others stops abruptly).

Step 3: the victory of an action

Our cortex chooses an action that will actually be carried out.

This arbitration is synonymous with selection, since it requires a decision. And this decision is based on certain elements, more or less consciously.
According to Paul Cisek, the selection of the winning action is made through the intervention of various cognitive processes. Depending on our past behaviors, therefore on our experience, on the relevance of the action, on the probability of success, or on our emotions, we will be able to adapt our considerations, and therefore the final arbitration.

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In our situation, even if you are not used to calling our employees, you know that a face-to-face conversation will allow you to have a faster or even immediate response (relevance of the action +). And then, being shy by nature, it is much easier for you to call than to go see your colleague face-to-face (probability of succeeding +). You will therefore choose the third option which will lead to the abandonment of the other two options at the neural level.
I would point out that this type of thinking is not necessarily conscious and more or less rapid, depending on the time available. And we must keep in mind that everything happens in real time so we must reassess our action, or correct it. Thus, this 3-step process is continuously at work (again we focus our attention, then the potential actions are activated and compete, which leads us to make a selection...)

Take Home Message

It should be remembered that the brain is constantly preparing to act, based on what it perceives of the environment (and situations). For example, simply looking at a pen will activate our motor cortex to prepare for action (the movement of our hand) by activating different populations of neurons capable of causing different seizures.
Only one action will finally be performed. It is possible to guide the final arbitration of the cortex by modifying the architecture of choice: this is what the Nudges, subtle incentives that make it possible to guide the individual in his choice of action, encouraging him to make the best decision.

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Fifty, a leader in e-doing, helps employees to act in contexts of training or transformation in companies. With a tool that combines behavioral sciences and a learning algorithm, Fifty supports employees in work situations to select the best action.