Reduced Sense of Agency in Human-Robot Interaction

In the presence of others, sense of agency (SoA), i.e. the perceived relationship between our own actions and external events, is reduced. This effect is thought to contribute to diffusion of responsibility. The present study aimed at examining humans’ SoA when interacting with an artificial embodied agent. Young adults participated in a task alongside the Cozmo robot (Anki Robotics). Participants were asked to perform costly actions (i.e. losing various amounts of points) to stop an inflating balloon from exploding. In 50% of trials, only the participant could stop the inflation of the balloon (Individual condition). In the remaining trials, both Cozmo and the participant were in charge of preventing the balloon from bursting (Joint condition). The longer the players waited before pressing the “stop” key, the smaller amount of points that was subtracted. However, in case the balloon burst, participants would lose the largest amount of points. In the joint condition, no points were lost if Cozmo stopped the balloon. At the end of each trial, participants rated how much control they perceived over the outcome of the trial. Results showed that when participants successfully stopped the balloon, they rated their SoA lower in the Joint than in the Individual condition, independently of the amount of lost points. This suggests that interacting with robots affects SoA, similarly to interacting with other humans.