Intentional Binding Effects in the Experience of Noticing the Regularity of a Perceptual-Motor Task

Kazuki Hayashida,Akihiro Masuike,Shu Morioka,Yuki Nishi

doi:10.3390/brainsci10090659

Abstract

Noticing the regularity of the task is necessary to enhance motor performance. The experience of noticing further motivates improvement in motor performance. Motor control is explained by a comparator model that modifies the motor command to reduce discrepancies between sensory predictions and actual outcomes. A similar model could apply to sense of agency (SoA). SoA refers to the sensation of controlling one’s own actions and, through them, the outcomes in the external world. SoA may also be enhanced by the experience of noticing errors. We recently reported gradual enhancement of SoA in participants with high perceptual-motor performance. However, what component of the motor task changed the SoA is unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the influence over time of the experience of noticing during a motor task on SoA. Participants performed an implicit regularity perceptual-motor task and an intentional binding task (a method that can quantitatively measure SoA) simultaneously. We separated participants into groups after the experiment based on noticing or not noticing the regularity. SoA was gradually enhanced in the noticing group, compared with that of the non-noticing group. The results suggest that the experience of noticing may enhance SoA during perceptual-motor tasks.

Highlights

In many areas of human life, the experience and repetition of many situations is required to improve motor performance
Motor control or motor learning is explained by a comparator model that modifies the motor command to reduce the discrepancy between sensory prediction and the actual outcome [4,5]
sense of ownership (SoO) refers to the perception of one’s own body, whereas sense of agency (SoA) refers to the sensation of controlling one’s own actions and, through them, outcomes in the external world [10]

Summary

Introduction

In many areas of human life, the experience and repetition of many situations is required to improve motor performance. In the repeating process, noticing the stimulus feature or regularity required to achieve the purposes of a task improves motor performance. The experience of noticing, which is caused by predictions about the outcome and errors in performance, induces positive emotions and further motivates one to improve motor performance (i.e., reinforcement learning occurs) [1,2,3]. Motor control or motor learning is explained by a comparator model that modifies the motor command to reduce the discrepancy between sensory prediction and the actual outcome [4,5]. Embodiment is distinguished into sense of ownership (SoO) and SoA. It has been suggested that SoA is directly related to motor control

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion