Dissociation of movement and outcome representations in metacognition of agency

We studied the role of movement and outcome information in forming metacognitive representations of agency. Participants completed a goal-oriented task, a virtual version of a ball-throwing game. In two conditions, we manipulated either the visual representation of the throwing movement or its distal outcome (the resulting ball flight/trajectory). We measured participants’ accuracy in a discrimination agency task, as well as confidence in their responses and tested for differences in the electrophysiological (EEG) signal using linear mixed effect models. We found no mean differences between participants’ metacognitive efficiency between conditions, but we also found that metacognitive sensitivity did not correlate between the two conditions, suggesting a dissociation in their underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, exploratory analyses pointed toward a difference in the EEG signal between the two conditions. Taken together, our results suggest that while movement and outcome information contribute equally to participants’ sense of agency, they may do so through distinct underlying processes.