Mismatching action-feedback relationship and sense of agency: the contribution of ERP modulation (FRN and P3b), behavior inhibition/activation systems (BIS/BAS), and behavior identification of actions (BIF)

Objective: Our sense of being agents relies on our action-effectiveness in a context and on our sense of causal power. The sense of agency has been related to correspondence between goals and actions and to correspondence between predicted and actual effects of our acting. The present study investigates the disruption of subjects’ sense of agency consequent to the perception of action-effect mismatching, checking for specific cortical responses (ERPs), taking into account subjective sensitivity to external cues (through Behavioural Inhibition System - BIS - and Behavioural Activation System - BAS -) indexes, and behavior identification process (through Behavior Identification Form - BIF -). Participants andMethods:We have presented erroneous feedbacks (N=25)in response to subjects’ actions, characterized by a discordance between actual subjective response on spatial features and the expected feedback. Results: Two negative electrophysiological components were found, ampler in case of erroneous feedback. The first, peaking at 210 ms and posteriorly distributed, has been associated to monitoring of unattended feedbacks, supposed to be an analogue of FRN. The second positive deflection plausibly a P3b component and posteriorly distributed, has been associated to a revision of the mental model of the context. Conclusions: An ampler FRN-analogue was related to higher BIS measures, in response to both veridical and erroneous feedback. On the contrary, higher BAS (especially Reward Responsiveness scale) was associated to an ampler P3b, reflecting an increased proactive attitude to external feedback. Moreover, low-level of action representation (low- BIF) explained FRN amplitude more than high-level one (high-BIF). Results will be discussed from an integrated point of view on agency.