Developmental changes in the time window for the explicit sense of agency experienced across the lifespan

Abstract

Sense of agency (SoA) is the subjective experience of individuals that they are initiators and controllers of their own actions, but it is not known how the time window for SoA changes developmentally over the lifetime. The present study examined developmental changes in the time window for SoA in school-age children (6–12 years), adolescents (16–18 years), young adults (20–25 years), adults (28–64 years), and older adults (65–83 years). The current results show that the time window for SoA is longer in young adults than in school-age children, adolescents, adults, and older adults, suggesting that young adulthood may be an important period of developmental change in the time window for SoA across the lifespan.