Temporal action-effect prediction does not affect perceived loudness, but the sense of agency

Abstract

Motor theories propose that predicting sensory consequences of one’s own actions reduces perception and neural processing of these action-effects, a phenomenon known as sensory attenuation, considered an implicit measure of agency. However, recent findings question the link between action-effect prediction and sensory attenuation. This study directly examined the link between temporal action-effect prediction and auditory sensory attenuation, alongside assessing self-reported agency. Participants experienced self-initiated auditory effects with varying latencies and compared their loudness to a reference tone, whose intensities were modulated to measure auditory discrimination. Results showed no change in perceived loudness across delays, while agency ratings decreased with longer delays. A second experiment controlled for hazard rate effects, confirming initial findings. Our results contrast previous behavioral findings from the tactile modality and conclusions drawn from auditory electroencephalography. We suggest reconsidering auditory sensory attenuation as a necessary consequence of action-effect prediction and as an implicit measure of agency.