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Agency attribution: event-related potentials and outcome monitoring

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Abstract

Knowledge about the effects of our actions is an underlying feature of voluntary behavior. Given the importance of identifying the outcomes of our actions, it has been proposed that the sensory outcomes of self-made actions are inherently different from those of externally caused outcomes. Thus, the outcomes of self-made actions are likely to be more motivationally significant for an agent. We used event-related potentials to investigate the relationship between the perceived motivational significance of an outcome and the attribution of agency in the presence of others. In our experiment, we assessed agency attribution in the presence of another agent by varying the degree of contiguity between participants’ self-made actions and the sensory outcome. Specifically, we assessed the feedback correct-related positivity (fCRP) and the novelty P3 measures of an outcome’s motivational significance and unexpectedness, respectively. Results revealed that both the fCRP and participants’ agency attributions were significantly influenced by action–outcome contiguity. However, when action–outcome contiguity was ambiguous, novelty P3 amplitude was a reliable indicator of agency attribution. Prior agency attributions were also found to influence attribution in trials with ambiguous and low action–outcome contiguity. Participants’ use of multiple cues to determine agency is consistent with the cue integration theory of agency. In addition to these novel findings, this study supports growing evidence suggesting that reinforcement processes play a significant role in the sense of agency.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Rebecca Scott, Nigel Barett, and Jeremy Anderson for their assistance in setting up EEG equipment and the use of the Physical Education laboratory at the University of Otago. We also thank Simmy Poonian and Michel Bednark Ohmer for editorial comments. J.G.B. was supported by a University of Otago PhD scholarship, and E.A.F was a recipient of research funding from a University of Otago Research Grant and a Marsden grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand, during the preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Jeffery G. Bednark

  2. Action Brain and Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychology and fMRIotago, The University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, 9010, New Zealand

    Jeffery G. Bednark & Elizabeth A. Franz

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  1. Jeffery G. Bednark
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  2. Elizabeth A. Franz
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Correspondence to Jeffery G. Bednark or Elizabeth A. Franz.

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Bednark, J.G., Franz, E.A. Agency attribution: event-related potentials and outcome monitoring. Exp Brain Res 232, 1117–1126 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-3821-4

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