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Unexpected loud auditory stimuli can trigger the involuntary release of motor actions during preparation to move.

Because acoustic stimulation can suppress motor cortex excitability during action, this early release could be independent of the motor cortex, and interpreted as pre‐planned action stored and triggered from subcortical areas.

In contrast, we show that corticospinal excitability in response to the loud auditory stimuli was increased when people were highly prepared to move, and reduced otherwise.

Our results also indicate that auditory stimuli can affect intracortical excitability by increasing intracortical facilitation and reducing short‐interval intracortical inhibition.

Together, our findings demonstrate that the early release of motor responses by auditory stimuli involves the motor cortex.