Neural dynamics of covert habit activation and control in humans

The neuroscience of habits in humans presumes a competition between two systems: stimulus-response and goal-directed. But lacking strong causal manipulations for inducing habits in humans, researchers have struggled to understand the brain mechanisms supporting the development of stimulus-response associations over time and their interaction with goal-directed processes. To address this, we conducted a preregistered electroencephalography (EEG) study with 14 days of stimulus-response training and used tight temporal controls to isolate the functioning of each system. In line with our preregistered hypothesis, we found that the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) tracked covert activation o