The influence of the partner’s predictability on the sense of agency in joint action

Abstract

This study explores the sense of agency (SoA) in cooperative contexts, focusing on how predictability of a partner’s actions influences SoA. It hypothesizes that higher predictability enhances SoA. Participants performed a musical task requiring coordination with a co-agent. The predictability of the co-agent was manipulated across three action-outcome mapping conditions: Same as the participant, reversed and random. Temporal Binding (TB) and explicit judgments indicated a significant effect of predictability when participants executed the last musical note, evidenced by differences between the same mapping condition and the two others. By contrast, predictability did not significantly impact TB when the co-agent executed the last note, suggesting different cognitive processes may be involved for other-generated actions. These findings suggest that sensorimotor representations of the actions of others influence our sense of agency within collaborative contexts. Hence, our ability to smoothly anticipate a partner’s actions enhances our collaborative experience.