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Cai Y, Yang H, Wang X, Xiong Z, Kühn S, Bi Y, Wei K. Neural correlates of an illusionary sense of agency caused by virtual reality. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhad547. [PMID: 38365271 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2023] [Revised: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/24/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Sense of agency (SoA) is the sensation that self-actions lead to ensuing perceptual consequences. The prospective mechanism emphasizes that SoA arises from motor prediction and its comparison with actual action outcomes, while the reconstructive mechanism stresses that SoA emerges from retrospective causal processing about the action outcomes. Consistent with the prospective mechanism, motor planning regions were identified by neuroimaging studies using the temporal binding (TB) effect, a behavioral measure often linked to implicit SoA. Yet, TB also occurs during passive observation of another's action, lending support to the reconstructive mechanism, but its neural correlates remain unexplored. Here, we employed virtual reality (VR) to modulate such observation-based SoA and examined it with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). After manipulating an avatar hand in VR, participants passively observed an avatar's "action" and showed a significant increase in TB. The binding effect was associated with the right angular gyrus and inferior parietal lobule, which are critical nodes for inferential and agency processing. These results suggest that the experience of controlling an avatar may potentiate inferential processing within the right inferior parietal cortex and give rise to the illusionary SoA without voluntary action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiyang Cai
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Huichao Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Xiaosha Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Ziyi Xiong
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Simone Kühn
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20251 Hamburg, Germany
- Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Yanchao Bi
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Kunlin Wei
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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Charalampaki A, Ninija Karabanov A, Ritterband-Rosenbaum A, Bo Nielsen J, Roman Siebner H, Schram Christensen M. Sense of agency as synecdoche: Multiple neurobiological mechanisms may underlie the phenomenon summarized as sense of agency. Conscious Cogn 2022; 101:103307. [PMID: 35447600 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2020] [Revised: 01/13/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies on the sense of agency (SoA) have yielded heterogeneous findings identifying regional brain activity during tasks that probed SoA. In this review, we argue that the reason behind this between-study heterogeneity is a "synecdochic" way the field conceptualizes and studies SoA. Typically, a single feature is experimentally manipulated and then this is interpreted as covering all aspects of SoA. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the fMRI studies of SoA and attempt to provide meaningful categories whereby the heterogeneous findings may be classified. This classification is based on a separation of the experimental paradigms (Feedback Manipulations of ongoing movements, Action-Effect, and Sensory Attenuation) and type of report employed (implicit, explicit reports of graded or dichotic nature, and whether these concern self-other distinctions or sense of control). We only find that Feedback Manipulation and Action-Effect share common activation in supplementary motor area, insula and cerebellum in positive SoA and inferior frontal gyrus in the negative SoA, but observe large networks related to SoA only in Feedback Manipulation studies. To illustrate the advantages of this approach, we discuss the findings from an fMRI study which we conducted, within this framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angeliki Charalampaki
- Department of Neuroscience, Christensen Lab, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research Copenhagen University Hospital Amager and Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark.
| | - Anke Ninija Karabanov
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research Copenhagen University Hospital Amager and Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark; Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Anina Ritterband-Rosenbaum
- Department of Neuroscience, Christensen Lab, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; The Elsass Foundation, Charlottenlund, Denmark
| | - Jens Bo Nielsen
- Department of Neuroscience, Christensen Lab, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; The Elsass Foundation, Charlottenlund, Denmark
| | - Hartwig Roman Siebner
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research Copenhagen University Hospital Amager and Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark; Department of Neurology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark; Institute for Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Cerebral responses to self-initiated action during social interactions. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2020; 19:1521-1535. [PMID: 30941709 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-019-00711-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Social interaction involves self-initiated actions that engage subjective awareness of one's own volition. Individuals with social communication needs or social anxiety find it particularly difficult to initiate social interactions. However, extant studies have not specifically addressed how perceived exclusion may influence self-initiated actions during social interaction. As a first step to address this question, we scanned 24 healthy adults participating in a Cyberball game with two fictive players. By contrasting events of observing, receiving, and initiating ball toss during a scenario of fair game (FG) and of exclusion (EX), we examined the neural correlates of self-initiated action during social interactions. Behaviorally, participants were faster in catching but slower in tossing the ball in EX compared with FG, suggesting a burden during self-initiated actions during social exclusion. Tossing versus receiving (or observing) engaged higher activity during EX than FG in the precuneus and angular gyrus, regions that have been widely implicated in theory of mind processing and social emotions. Across subjects these cortical activities correlated positively with the difference between EX and FG in the percentage of trials where participants tossed the ball back to the same player (r = 0.69, p < 0.001). Together, the results suggested that, in healthy adults, social exclusion encumbered and engaged higher posterior cortical activations during self-initiated actions. The findings may facilitate future research of neural markers of social behavioral disorders.
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Zapparoli L, Seghezzi S, Zirone E, Guidali G, Tettamanti M, Banfi G, Bolognini N, Paulesu E. How the effects of actions become our own. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:6/27/eaay8301. [PMID: 32937445 PMCID: PMC7458439 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aay8301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2019] [Accepted: 05/15/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Every day, we do things that cause effects in the outside world with little doubt about who caused what. To some, this sense of agency derives from a post hoc reconstruction of a likely causal relationship between an event and our preceding movements; others propose that the sense of agency originates from prospective comparisons of motor programs and their effects. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that the sense of agency is associated with a brain network including the pre-supplementary motor area (SMA) and dorsal parietal cortex. Transcranial magnetic stimulation affected the sense of agency only when delivered over the pre-SMA and specifically when time-locked to action planning, rather than when the physical consequences of the actions appeared. These findings make a prospective theory of the sense of agency more likely.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Zapparoli
- Psychology Department and NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
- IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy
| | - S Seghezzi
- Psychology Department and NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- PhD Program in Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy
| | - E Zirone
- IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy
| | - G Guidali
- Psychology Department and NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- PhD Program in Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy
| | - M Tettamanti
- CIMeC-Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - G Banfi
- IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy
- University Vita e Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy
| | - N Bolognini
- Psychology Department and NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milano, Italy
| | - E Paulesu
- Psychology Department and NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
- IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy
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Zito GA, Wiest R, Aybek S. Neural correlates of sense of agency in motor control: A neuroimaging meta-analysis. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0234321. [PMID: 32502189 PMCID: PMC7274441 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2020] [Accepted: 05/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The sense of agency (SoA) refers to the perception that an action is the consequence of one’s own intention. Studies exploring the SoA with neuroimaging techniques summarized the available data and confirmed a role of fronto-parietal areas and subcortical structures. However, these studies focused on specific regions of interest. We thus conducted a whole-brain meta-analysis to verify which regions emerge as significant for the SoA, specifically during motor execution. We performed a systematic search on PubMed, PsycINFO and Cochrane databases with the following inclusion criteria: studies investigating SoA with a visuo-motor task by means of neuroimaging in healthy subjects. We performed a quantitative, whole-brain, meta-analysis of neural correlates of the SoA based on the activation likelihood estimation. Of the 785 articles identified by our search, 22 studies met our inclusion criteria (169 foci, 295 subjects for decreased agency, and 58 foci, 165 subjects for normal agency). Neural correlates of decreased agency were the bilateral temporo-parietal junction (MNI: 50,-54,14; -44,-52,42; -48,-56,8). Normal agency showed no significant clusters of activation. This meta-analysis confirmed the key role of areas responsible for decreased SoA during motor control, whereas normal agency did not show a specific neural signature. This study sets the ground for future regions-of-interest analyses of neural correlates of SoA, as well as potential neuromodulation studies, which might be relevant in medical conditions presenting with abnormal SoA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuseppe A. Zito
- Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Support Centre for Advanced Neuroimaging (SCAN), University Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Bern University Hospital Inselspital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- * E-mail:
| | - Roland Wiest
- Support Centre for Advanced Neuroimaging (SCAN), University Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Bern University Hospital Inselspital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Selma Aybek
- Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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