METHODS article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Cognitive Neuroscience
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1534412
This article is part of the Research TopicAt the Borders of Movement, Art, and NeurosciencesView all 8 articles
C.R.A.B.: A Gamified Paradigm for Studying Readiness Potential
Provisionally accepted
Evgeni Blagovechtchenski1,2*
Maria Koriakina2
Ksenia Bartseva1Alexandra Kuznetsova1Sofia Ponomareva1Alena Popyvanova1Ekaterina Pomelova1Dimitri Bredikhin1- 1Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
- 2National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russia
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BackgroundThis study presents a novel paradigm termed Contrasting Routines Affecting Bereitschaftspotential (C.R.A.B.), designed to analyze readiness potential (RP) waveforms preceding movements across varying experimental settings. This paradigm continues Libet’s work on decision-making, with an emphasis on the motor planning component (Libet et.al., 1983). However, existing paradigms for studying RP work poorly across ages (requiring different instructions) and do not accurately identify the components associated with RP formation.New methodThe C.R.A.B. paradigm enables modeling the when-decision through indirect measurements, thereby avoiding reliance on participants’ introspective reports. We believe that this framework can isolate the motor planning component from decision-making and is also suitable for implementation with children of different ages and disorders.ResultsAs a proof of concept, we employed the C.R.A.B. paradigm with healthy adult participants to validate its effectiveness. Our findings revealed distinct RP waveform variations across different trial conditions. Comparison with existing methodsC.R.A.B. paradigm has several advantages over traditional methods:·the design of the experiment provides for the assessment of different components of RP – motor planning, attention level, and spontaneity of decision-making·since the design of the experiment is developed in a game form, it is suitable for both children and adultsConclusionsThe C.R.A.B. paradigm effectively demonstrated differences in RP waveforms across trial types; therefore, this paradigm can be used to study the various components of the RP in detail. Since this paradigm represents a game interface, it is possible to study the RP in children, including children with various disorders.
Keywords: free will, EEG, ERP, experimental design, Game
Received: 25 Nov 2024; Accepted: 15 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Blagovechtchenski, Koriakina, Bartseva, Kuznetsova, Ponomareva, Popyvanova, Pomelova and Bredikhin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Evgeni Blagovechtchenski, Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
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