Awareness of action: Inference and prediction

Moore, James W. and Haggard, Patrick. 2008. Awareness of action: Inference and prediction. Consciousness and cognition, 17(1), pp. 136-44. ISSN 1090-2376 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

This study investigates whether the conscious awareness of action is based on predictive motor control processes, or on inferential "sense-making" process that occur after the action itself. We investigated whether the temporal binding between perceptual estimates of operant actions and their effects depends on the occurrence of the effect (inferential processes) or on the prediction that the effect will occur (predictive processes). By varying the probability with which a simple manual action produced an auditory effect, we showed that both the actual and the predicted occurrence of the effect played a role. When predictability of the effect of action was low, temporal binding was found only on those trials where the auditory effect occurred. In contrast, when predictability of the effect of action was high, temporal binding occurred even on trials where the action produced no effect. Further analysis showed that the predictive process is modulated by recent experience of the action-effect relation. We conclude that the experience of action depends on a dynamic combination of predictive and inferential processes.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2006.12.004

Keywords:

action, intention, action effects, time judgment, awareness, agency,

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Psychology

Dates:

DateEvent
2008Published

Item ID:

6457

Date Deposited:

10 Feb 2012 10:32

Last Modified:

29 Apr 2020 15:33

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/6457

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