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Believing and perceiving: authorship belief modulates sensory attenuation
Andrea Desantis1, Carmen Weiss, Simone Schütz-Bosbach
1Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France. aerdna.desantis@gmail.com
Plos One
|June 6, 2012
Summary
Self-generated sounds are perceived as less loud due to sensory attenuation. This effect is stronger when individuals believe they caused the sound, influencing their sense of authorship.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychology of Perception
Background:
- Sensory attenuation describes reduced perception of self-generated stimuli compared to external ones.
- This phenomenon is thought to aid in distinguishing self-caused from external events.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if prior beliefs about authorship modulate sensory attenuation.
- To determine if sensory attenuation is influenced by the perceived cause of a sensory event.
Main Methods:
- Participants judged the loudness of auditory stimuli.
- Participants held prior beliefs about whether sounds were self-generated or externally triggered.
- Auditory stimuli were, in reality, always triggered by participant actions.
Main Results:
- Auditory stimuli were perceived as less loud when participants believed they were self-generated.
- This perceived attenuation was greater compared to when participants believed sounds were externally generated.
Conclusions:
- Sensory attenuation is influenced by pre-existing beliefs regarding authorship.
- Beliefs about the causal link between actions and sensory outcomes shape sensory attenuation.
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