Resolving confusions about urges and intentions

Abstract

In our article we considered the nature and the functional anatomy of “urges-for-action,” both in the context of everyday behaviors such as yawning, swallowing, and micturition, and in relation to clinical disorders in which the urge-for-action is considered pathological (e.g., Tourette syndrome), and we argued for a key role for the insular and cingulate cortices in experiencing the urge-for-action. Here we seek to address some of the key points raised within several of the interesting commentaries on, and challenges to, our paper.