Action intentions modulate visual processing during action perception

► Viewing meaningful actions, within 200 ms, is influenced by concurrent motor plans. ► N170 is higher when incongruent actions are planned versus congruent actions. ► N170 amplitude is larger over the hemisphere contralateral to movement. ► N170 is not modulated when subjects remember actions without preparing for execution. ► N170 effects are specific to action plans rather than to semantic meaning of actions.