Does "cancel their immediate intention to press the "go" button" mean...?

Question

Does "cancel their immediate intention to press the "go" button" mean "cancel their immediate intention ( this intention is to press the "go" button) "?

Context:

Upon seeing the initial go-signal, the participant would immediately intend on pressing the "go" button. The participant was instructed to cancel their immediate intention to press the "go" button if they saw a stop signal. The participant was instructed to select randomly (at their leisure) between either pressing the "go" button, or not pressing it, if they saw a decide signal. Those trials in which the decide signal was shown after the initial go-signal ("decide trials"), for example, required that the participants prevent themselves from acting impulsively on the initial go-signal and then decide what to do. Due to the varying delays, this was sometimes impossible (e.g. some decide signals simply appeared too late in the process of them both intending to and pressing the go button for them to be obeyed).

GPY · Accepted Answer

Yes.

Grammarfreak · Answer

In my humble opinion, this article was poorly writen. Tthe author who wrote this passage appears to be someone whose mother tougue could be anything but English. The tone and choice of words sounded rather stiff, and there are grammar and construction issues. I highlighted the phrasess in question. Ex: immediate intention, decide trial, subject/ verb agreement.

Context: Upon seeing the initial go-signal, the participant ( single) would immediately intend on pressing the "go" button. The participant was instructed to cancel their (plural )immediate intention to press the "go" button if they saw a stop signal. The participant was instructed to select randomly (at their leisure) between either pressing the "go" button, or not pressing it, if they saw a decide signal. Those trials in which the decide signal was shown after the initial go-signal ("decide trials"), for example, required that the participants prevent themselves from acting impulsively on the initial go-signal and then decide what to do. Due to the varying delays, this was sometimes impossible (e.g. some decide signals simply appeared too late in the process of them both intending to and pressing the go button for them to be obeyed).

NL888 · Answer

Yeah, thanks.
I've got a hard time in understanding "some decide signals simply appeared too late in the process of them both intending to and pressing the go button for them to be obeyed." What does it mean?

Grammarfreak · Answer

Make you time worth-while.<img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/3.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/3.gif' alt='Emotion: surprise'/> Learn from materials written by good authors, preferrably natives. I've come across many materials written by authors who studied English in a non-English environment, and as a result the fluency and naturality are comprimised. I don't mean to sound biased. That is true. There are many good writters whose mother tougue is not English. But for learning purpose, I recommend materials by native authors.

Anonymous · Answer

Grammarfreak's right. That paragraph is so badly written that it's hard to know what the author meant.

I believe it is implied that all participants will first receive a "go" signal, and upon receiving it, will form an intention to press the "go" button.

In the second sentence, participants who first see the "go" signal, then see a "stop" signal, are instructed to interrupt their first intention (that is, to press the "go" button), and instead do nothing until given further instruction.

In the third sentence, participants who first see the "go" signal, then see a "decide" signal, are instructed to randomly decide to either press the "go" button, or do nothing.

This experiment appears to focus on impulsiveness and decision-making when driving. The trouble arose when the author tried to simultaneously describe the sequence of actions, and the timing of actions. That's hard to do in English, and the author's sentences weren't up to the challenge.

GPY · Answer

NL888I've got a hard time in understanding "some decide signals simply appeared too late in the process of them both intending to and pressing the go button for them to be obeyed." What does it mean?

Sometimes the participants were in the process of pressing the "go" button, and the "decide" signal appeared too late for them to react to it and change their action. In these cases the "decide" signal could not be obeyed.

As GF says, this is not the clearest piece of writing ever.

Grammarfreak · Answer

This is what I imagine in my head within the confine of the texts.. The "decide signal " could be a visual indicator, like a blinking light, which participants must make a choice to press botton A, or button B. However, it was not clarified. I also find the phrase  "immediate intention" rather conflicting. Immediate - is now. But an intent is conceived through time, no matter how short.  So I don't really understand what the author intended to say. <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/82.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/82.gif' alt='Emotion: headbang'/>

NL888 · Answer

Thank you guys.

I didn't intend to learn English from such materials, rather, I tried to grasp the knowledge of neoroscience of free will.

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