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What are self-generated actions?

Friederike Schüür1, Patrick Haggard

  • 1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK. F.schuur@ucl.ac.uk

Consciousness and Cognition
|October 5, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Self-generated actions are complex, with two definitions: operant and underdetermined. This study proposes a new experimental approach to define self-generated actions, moving beyond subjective experience.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Philosophy of Mind

Background:

  • The concept of self-generated action is debated, particularly its neural underpinnings.
  • Existing definitions of self-generated action include operant action and underdetermined action.
  • The latter definition relies on subjective experience, which may be unreliable for scientific study.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze the concept of self-generated action as used in prior research.
  • To address the definitional challenges and potential regress in defining self-generated actions.
  • To propose an alternative framework for understanding self-generated actions that is amenable to experimental investigation.

Main Methods:

  • Conceptual analysis of existing definitions of self-generated action.
  • Review of experimental findings on action awareness and subjective experience.
  • Development of a novel theoretical account of self-generated action.

Main Results:

  • Identified two primary definitions of self-generated action: operant and underdetermined.
  • Highlighted the limitations of relying on subjective experience for defining self-generated actions.
  • Proposed an alternative conceptualization to avoid definitional regress.

Conclusions:

  • Self-generated actions are distinct from operant actions.
  • A new framework is needed to make self-generated actions experimentally tractable.
  • The proposed account aims to resolve conceptual ambiguities and facilitate scientific inquiry.