Action effect anticipation: Neurophysiological basis and functional consequences

► We review evidence that medial frontal cortex plays a crucial role in linking actions to their predicted effects. ► During action selection, the brain pre-activates the perceptual representation of the predicted action effect. ► Pre-activation of learnt action effects provides a potential mechanism for sensory attenuation and intentional binding. ► We compare this potential mechanism to mental imagery and repetition suppression.