Neural correlates of the attribution of agency for self-made and others' actions: the role of the medial portion of the anterior PFC in attributing expected consequences to the self.
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1
The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, Australia
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2
The University of Queensland, School of Psychology, Australia
An important distinction to make is between the sense of agency we infer over own actions and consequences and those that are caused by other agents'. It is thought that the way in which we attribute causality over actions and effects involves a comparison between the expected and actual consequences of a goal-directed action. If this comparison matches, then consequences are attributed as being self-caused rather than caused by another agent. In particular, the neural correlates involved in the comparator model where actions are attributed to the self over another agent, are still to be fully understood in relation to automatic action-effect processing. In this experiment we examined the neural correlates of the comparator model during a task measuring sense of agency in our own and others' actions. By manipulating the expectation that a specific sensory consequence would occur after an action we compared the BOLD signal between trials where consequences were expected and presented and when they were not expected. It was found that the medial portion of the anterior PFC was more activated when consequences matched the expectation in self-made actions over the actions of others'. We conclude that this area is involved in the attribution that expected consequences are self-made rather than caused by another agent.
Keywords:
functional MRI,
sense of agency,
Intentional Binding,
observed actions,
predictive processes,
self-made actions
Conference:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Motor Behaviour
Citation:
Poonian
S and
Cunnington
R
(2015). Neural correlates of the attribution of agency for self-made and others' actions: the role of the medial portion of the anterior PFC in attributing expected consequences to the self..
Conference Abstract:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00050
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Received:
19 Feb 2015;
Published Online:
24 Apr 2015.
*
Correspondence:
Ms. Simmy Poonian, The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, Brisbane, Australia, simandeep.poonian@uqconnect.edu.au