其他摘要 | The sense of agency is a subjective experience that an individual can control his or her own action and through which influences the environment during the preparation, execution and experiencing the result of an action. Exploring cognitive neural mechanisms of the sense of agency is of great significance in the fields of mental health, ethics and law, automatic driving, etc. It has been found that the sense of agency is influenced by prospective (e.g., intention, outcome expectation, etc.) or retrospective (e.g., outcome, etc.) effects. Scattered evidence for the neural mechanisms underlying the sense of agency was also provided. There is no neuroimaging study that systematically examines the neural mechanisms underlying prospective and retrospective effects on the sense of agency. Previous neuroimaging studies, limited by techniques, did not explore spatial and temporal characteristics for the neural basis underling the prospective or retrospective effect on the sense of agency at the same time. This study investigated the neural mechanisms underlying the effects of the intention and outcome on the sense of agency systematically, and explored the spatial and temporal characteristics of the neural mechanisms underlying prospective and retrospective effects on the sense of agency using magnetoencephalography and stereoelectroencephalography techniques. The neural mechanisms underlying the action binding and the outcome binding were explored separately. The theoretical model of the sense of agency was optimized based on the results of cognitive and neural mechanisms.
Study 1 used two experiments to explore the neural mechanisms of the prospective effect of the intention on the sense of agency. In Experiment 1,magnetoencephalography was used to explore the activation patterns in the action-outcome window and the outcome onset window in voluntary pressing (with intention) and involuntary pressing (without intention) conditions. The neural mechanisms underlying the action binding and the outcome binding were also explored. The results of Experiment 1 showed that the neural mechanisms underlying the prospective effect of intention on the sense of agency included: the stimulus-preceding negativity in the right Pre-SMA and right SMA, the feedback-related negativity in the right MTG and left postcentral gyros, the β band oscillations in the right SMA, the γ band oscillations in the left postcentral gyros, and the connection between the left postcentral gyros and the right MTG. The action binding was found associated with the stimulus-preceding negativity in the right Pre-SMA and right SMA, and the y band oscillations in the left PCG. The outcome binding was found associated with the feedback-related negativity in the right MTG and left postcentral gyrus, the β band oscillations in the right SMA, and the connection between the left postcentral gyrus and the right MTG. The results reflect that prospective effect can affect both action-binding and outcome-binding effects, and the two possess different neural mechanisms. In Experiment 2, stereoelectroencephalography was used to re-examine the activation patterns in the action-outcome window and the outcome onset window in voluntary pressing and involuntary pressing conditions. The results of Experiment 2 showed that the right IFG, the region at which the right Pre-SMA locates, underlies the prospective effect of intention on the sense of agency. This result provided additional evidence for the essential role of the right Pre-SMA in the prospective effect of intention on the sense of agency.
Study 2 aimed at exploring the neural mechanisms underlying the prospective effect of the outcome expectation and the retrospective effect of the outcome on the sense of agency. In Experiment 3, magnetoencephalography was used to explore the activation patterns in high outcome expectation and low outcome expectation conditions, and trials with the auditory stimulus as the outcome or without outcome. The results showed that the neural mechanisms underlying the prospective effect of outcome expectation on the sense of agency included: the feedback-related negativity in the right IPL,the low β band oscillations in the right IPL and the high β band oscillations in the left MTG. These neural activities were found associated with action binding. The bilateral connections between the right IPL and the left MTG were influenced by the outcome expectation. The neural mechanisms underlying the retrospective effect of outcome on the sense of agency included: the N1 in the right STG, the feedback-related negativity in the right OFC and the a band oscillations in the right STG. These neural activities were found associated with action binding. The bilateral connections between the right OFC and the right STG were influenced by the outcome. The findings reflect the ability of the prospective effect to influence the sense of agency in the absence of outcomes, as well as reveal that the outcome can influence the body agency of the sense of agency.
This research investigated how the intention and outcome influence the sense of agency systematically. For the first time, the prospective effect and retrospective effect on the sense of agency have been separated in a functional neuroimaging study. This study explored the spatial and temporal characteristics of the neural mechanisms underlying prospective and retrospective effects on the sense of agency using magnetoencephalography and stereoelectroencephalography techniques, and optimized the theoretical model of the sense of agency based on the results of cognitive and neural mechanisms. This study is helpful for revealing the neural mechanisms of the sense of agency, and providing a theoretical basis for the application of the sense of agency in multiple fields. |
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