Modulating the experience of agency: a positron emission tomography study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Psychology

Background:

• Agency, the sense of controlling one's actions, is fundamental to self-recognition.
• Understanding the neural basis of agency is crucial for distinguishing self-generated actions from external ones.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how experimentally altering the sense of agency affects brain activity.
• To identify brain regions involved in action recognition and self-recognition modulated by agency.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a virtual hand manipulation task to control the degree of agency experienced by subjects.
• Compared brain activity across four conditions: full control, 25-degree rotation, 50-degree rotation, and externally controlled movements.
• Measured brain activity using neuroimaging techniques.

Main Results:

• Found that activity in the right inferior parietal lobe increased as the sense of agency decreased.
• Observed a reverse pattern in the insula, with decreased activation correlating with reduced agency.
• Demonstrated a direct mapping between brain area activity and the subjective experience of control.

Conclusions:

• Specific brain regions, including the inferior parietal lobe and insula, dynamically track the sense of agency.
• These findings offer insights into the neural mechanisms underlying self-recognition and action attribution.
• The study has implications for understanding disorders characterized by altered agency perception.