Perceptual Sensitivity, but not Metacognitive Monitoring, is Dependent on Varying Levels of Control

Sense of agency is the feeling of control over one’s actions in the environment. This is typically explained in terms of a comparator that evaluates the consistency between sensorimotor predictions and actual outcomes. Under high movement controllability, there is high predictability and hence a strong sense of agency, while a decrease in control produces salient prediction errors. Conversely, under low controllability, the sense of agency may rely more on detecting regularities between actions and outcomes until control increases. However, it remains unclear whether these distinct perceptual processes share the same metacognitive monitoring process. We addressed this question using a control change detection task, where participants moving a single dot on a screen had to detect whether their level of control had changed and report their confidence. Across two experiments, we observed that perceptual sensitivity was higher for decreases than for increases in controllability, but metacognitive process showed no directional difference. Our findings suggest that while distinct perceptual processes are involved for different levels of controllability, metacognitive monitoring shares a common underlying mechanism.