Agency Induces Visual Anticipation Shift

The sense of agency refers to the experience of authorship and control over self-generated actions and their effects. It is believed to be tightly linked to cerebral processes predicting the sensory consequences of action. Furthermore, predictions are considered central to the formation of percepts. Yet, the influence of the sense of agency on perception remains poorly understood. The present study sought to investigate the effect of agency on visual anticipation through the lens of Representational Momentum (RM). RM refers to the automatic anticipation movement. For instance, when viewing a moving object that suddenly disappears, one will memorize its vanishing position further in the direction of its motion than it really was. Participants viewed a moving target launched 1) by a voluntary movement of their finger, 2) by a non-voluntary movement applied to their finger by a mechatronic lever, or 3) by an external source with no movement on their part. Visual anticipation increased as a function of participants’ involvement in causing the target’s movement, from none to non-voluntary to voluntary action. This finding supports the hypothesis that the sense of agency, alongside proprioceptive inputs, significantly influences visual anticipation, thus suggesting a profound interplay between agency and visual perception. These results underscore the potential of RM as a novel measure of the sense of agency.