The effects of action choice on temporal binding, agency ratings, and their correlation.

Abstract

The sense of agency, i.e., the feeling of control over one's own actions and their consequences in the environment, is a crucial part of action taking. In experimental studies, agency is most commonly measured either directly via explicit agency ratings or indirectly via implicit measures, e.g., temporal binding. In order to aid our interpretation of previous and future results, several studies have focused on relating implicit and explicit measures of agency to one another. However, possibly due to different methodological issues, results have been far from conclusive. In the present study, we therefore contribute to this discussion by further characterizing temporal binding and explicit agency ratings in their response to action choice as an experimental manipulation in a high-powered design, and by studying how temporal binding and agency ratings are related in different experimental conditions. Furthermore, we discuss the possible influence of the specific agency question regarding the participants' ratings.