Socio-affective influences on neural and behavioural correlates of agency
Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience
Final Report Abstract
Sense of Agency (SoA) - the subjective feeling that a given event was caused by our own voluntary action - is a central aspect of human behaviour and closely linked to self-efficacy and the notion of responsibility. However, while a large proportion of human behaviour occurs in social contexts, it is insufficiently understood to date, how SoA is influenced by socio-affective action contexts. This project explored how different aspects of socio-affective contexts influence SoA, and how SoA is in turn related to learning. In a first study we combined a newly developed paradigm with electroencephalography. We showed that when acting in the presence of another potential agent, compared to acting alone, participants showed a reduction in subjective SoA over the outcomes of their own actions. Further, outcome monitoring, as reflected in the amplitude of the feedback-related negativity, was reduced in response to outcomes that were obtained in a social action context. Based on these findings, we investigated the role of mentalizing processes during the action selection phase using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found that areas associated with the mentalizing network (temporo-parietal junction, medial precuneus) showed increased activity during the action phase of social trials, compared to non-social trials. Moreover, activity in the precuneus was negatively related to SoA on a trial-wise basis. These findings suggest that the need to consider other people’s intentions and potential actions may interfere with individual action planning, leading to reduced SoA. Thus, mentalizing processes may play a role in the finding that the presence of others can have substantial effects on individual action. In an ongoing study, we are exploring how acting in a positive or negative context affects the detection of control. Preliminary findings suggest that participants are faster at detecting a lack of control when acting in a sad context, but faster at detecting a surplus of control when acting in a happy context. Such findings have potentially important implications for our understanding of affective disorders. In another ongoing project, we explore the effect of instrumental control on associative learning and the development of incentive salience. In a first study based on current models of addiction, we found that active control over the offset of a painful stimulus increases the incentive salience for an offset-related visual cue. This was compared to a visual cue predicting passive pain offset. These findings show an interaction between instrumental and classical conditioning and are currently further investigated using electroencephalography. In conclusion, this project highlighted important interactions between the presence of other people, the affective valence of an action context, sense of agency and associative learning. Future research in this field will help us develop more comprehensive models of human learning in different contexts, the development of a sense of self-efficacy, and ultimately the shaping of social behaviour.
Publications
- (2017) Anger-sensitive networks: characterizing neural systems recruited during aggressive social interactions using data-driven analysis. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 12 (11) 1711–1719
Beyer, Frederike; Krämer, Ulrike M.; Beckmann, Christian F.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsx117) - (2017) Beyond self-serving bias: diffusion of responsibility reduces sense of agency and outcome monitoring. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 12 (1) 138–145
Beyer, Frederike; Sidarus, Nura; Bonicalzi, Sofia; Haggard, Patrick
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsw160)
