Abstract
Sense of agency (SoA) refers to the feeling that we are in control of our actions and, through them, of events in the outside world. One influential view claims that the SoA depends on retrospectively matching the expected and actual outcomes of action. However, recent studies have revealed an additional, prospective component to SoA, driven by action selection processes. We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to clarify the neural mechanisms underlying prospective agency. Subliminal priming was used to manipulate the fluency of selecting a left or right hand action in response to a supraliminal target. These actions were followed by one of several coloured circles, after a variable delay. Participants then rated their degree of control over this visual outcome. Incompatible priming impaired action selection, and reduced sense of agency over action outcomes, relative to compatible priming. More negative ERPs immediately after the action, linked to post-decisional action monitoring, were associated with reduced agency ratings over action outcomes. Additionally, feedback-related negativity evoked by the outcome was also associated with reduced agency ratings. These ERP components may reflect brain processes underlying prospective and retrospective components of sense of agency respectively.
Highlights
The sense of agency (SoA) refers to the feeling that we are in control of our actions and, through them, of events in the outside world (Haggard and Tsakiris, 2009)
In modelling of agency ratings, we found no relation between these two event-related potentials (ERPs), suggesting that the Outcome feedback-related negativity (FRN) did not directly reflect an affective response linked to the preceding action
We found that an unconscious influence on action selection processes, from subliminal priming, can affect the conscious experience of agency over action outcomes
Summary
The sense of agency (SoA) refers to the feeling that we are in control of our actions and, through them, of events in the outside world (Haggard and Tsakiris, 2009). SoA figures mostly in the background of our mental lives (Gallagher, 2012; Legrand, 2007), but we become acutely aware of our experience of agency when the smooth flow from intention to action to outcome is disrupted (Haggard and Chambon, 2012). The dominant view suggests that SoA relies on a comparison between expected and observed action outcomes (Blakemore et al, 2002; Hughes et al, 2013; Wegner and Wheatley, 1999). When there is a mismatch between expected and observed outcomes, our SoA is reduced. According to this view, SoA depends primarily on a match between predictive and retrospective information
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