Having a body versus moving your body: Neural signatures of agency and body-ownership
Abstract
The exact relation between the sense that one's body is one's own (body-ownership) and the sense that one controls one's own bodily actions (agency) has been the focus of much speculation, but remains unclear. On an 'additive' model, agency and body-ownership are strongly related; the ability to control actions is a powerful cue to body-ownership. This view implies a component common to the senses of body-ownership and agency, plus possible additional components unique to agency. An alternative 'independence' model holds that agency and body-ownership are qualitatively different experiences, triggered by different inputs, and recruiting distinct brain networks. We tested these two specific models by investigating the sensory and motor aspects of body-representation in the brain using fMRI. Activations in midline cortical structures were associated with a sensory-driven sense of body-ownership, and were absent in agency conditions. Activity in the pre-SMA was linked to the sense of agency, but distinct from the sense of body-ownership. No shared activations that would support the additive model were found. The results support the independence model. Body-ownership involves a psychophysiological baseline, linked to activation of the brain's default mode network. Agency is linked to premotor and parietal areas involved in generating motor intentions and subsequent action monitoring.
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The AIC is also differentially activated by changes in the sense of agency.
“Interestingly, the AIC is also differentially activated by changes in the sense of agency”
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- Authors
- Tsakiris, M., Longo, M. R., & Haggard, P.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Venue
- Neuropsychologia
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-07
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 2740-2749
- ISSN
- 0028-3932 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2166013576
- Cited by
- 358
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 8.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Neuropsychologia (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BIROn (Birkbeck, University of London) (acceptedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Royal Holloway Digital Repository (Royal Holloway University of London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/D009529/1)
- Leverhulme Trust
- Fundação Bial (165/06)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Free Will and Agency
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Keywords
- body ownership, sense of agency, representation of the body, pre-supplementary motor area, default mode network, action monitoring, premotor cortex, parietal cortex
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Body Image, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Kinesthesis, Functional Laterality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Models, Psychological, Movement, Neural Pathways, Oxygen, Perceptual Masking, Psychometrics, Psychophysics, Feedback, Psychological, Young Adult
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