In states of readiness, potential movements reverberate with a degree of activation that is under inhibitory control: on the front foot; ready, steady, go!

Movement of any muscle groups is more likely when there is a general reduction in inhibition, due to fatigue or alcohol.

Movement of any muscle groups is more likely when there is a general increase in activation, due to pain, hunger, thirst, anger, anxiety or sexual excitement.

Accidents are less likely if potential movements are visualised, in one’s mind’s eye, facilitated by mirror neurones.

The time taken for a nerve signal to cross a nerve gap is about 0.001 seconds, so the longer the gap between an antecedent stimulus and a response, then the more likely the response is to have been intentional.

Intentional premotor activity is likely to include a distributed increase in muscle tone, without movement, which will require signals from the cerebral cortices to the caudate (tailed) nuclei and the putamina (shells) to inhibit the internal globi pallidi (pale globes): thereby, the ventral anterior thalamic nuclei are released from inhibition by the internal globi pallidi and are thus able to activate areas 6 of the cerebral cortices. Intentional motor activity (voluntary movement) will require increase in tone in agonist muscles as already described, but with the final activations in areas 4 of the cerebral cortices, and a reduction in tone in antagonist muscles, which could be effected by inhibition of the external globi pallidi, to reduce inhibition of the subthalamic nuclei, with consequent activation of the parts of the internal globi pallidi that inhibit the parts of the ventral lateral thalamic nuclei that activate the cells of areas 4 of the cerebral cortices that activate the antagonist muscles. The circuit inhibiting the antagonist muscles has two more nerve gaps than the circuit activating the agonist muscles.
Signals from the cerebral cortices are copied to the cerebellum by the corticopontine nerves, so that the organism knows that any changes in tone, or any movements, have come from the organism itself, such that a search for outside forces is unnecessary.
Changes in the body image due to alterations in tone and to movement are signalled to the cerebellum by the spinocerebellar nerves.