Outside influence: The sense of agency takes into account what is in our surroundings.

Autor: Hon N; Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, 9 Arts Link, 117570, Singapore. Electronic address: psyhonn@nus.edu.sg., Seow YY; Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, 9 Arts Link, 117570, Singapore., Pereira D; Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, 9 Arts Link, 117570, Singapore.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Acta psychologica [Acta Psychol (Amst)] 2018 May; Vol. 186, pp. 104-109. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 Mar 28.
DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.03.004
Abstrakt: We are quite capable of distinguishing those outcomes we cause from those we do not. This ability to sense self-agency is thought to be produced by a comparison between a predictive representation of an outcome and the actual outcome that occurs. It is unclear, though, specifically what types of information can be entered into agency computations. Here, we demonstrate that information from non-target stimuli (stimuli that are not directly acted upon) incidentally present in our surroundings can influence predictions of outcomes, consequently modulating the sense of agency over clearly-defined target outcomes (those that occur to acted-upon stimuli). This provides the first evidence that our sense of agency is contextualized with respect to what is in our immediate visual environment. Furthermore, our data suggest that agency computations, instead of just a single comparison, may involve comparisons performed in stages, with different stages involving different types/classes of information. A model of such multi-stage comparisons is described.
(Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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