More than fulfilled expectations: An electrophysiological investigation of varying cause-effect relationships and schizotypal personality traits as related to the sense of agency

Abstract

The sense of agency (SoA) is central to human experience. The comparator model, contrasting sensory prediction and action feedback, is influential but limited in explaining SoA. We investigated mechanisms beyond the comparator model, focusing on the processing of unpredictable stimuli, perimotor components of SoA, and their relation to schizotypy.

ERPs were recorded from 18 healthy participants engaged in button-pressing tasks while perceiving tones with varying causal relationships with their actions. We investigated the processing of non-causally related tones, contrasted this to causally related tones, and examined perimotor correlates of subjective expectancy and experience of agency.

We confirmed N100 attenuation for self-generated stimuli but found similar effects for expectancy-dependent processing of random tones. SoA also correlated with perimotor ERP components, modulated by schizotypy.

Thus, neural processes preceding actions contribute to the formation of SoA and are associated with schizotypy. Unpredictable events also undergo sensory attenuation, implying additional mechanisms contributing to SoA.