Attention to action and awareness of other minds
Abstract
We have only limited awareness of the system by which we control our actions and this limited awareness does not seem to be concerned with the control of action. Awareness of choosing one action rather than another comes after the choice has been made, while awareness of initiating an action occurs before the movement has begun. These temporal differences bind together in consciousness the intention to act and the consequences of the action. This creates our sense of agency. Activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex is associated with awareness of our own actions and also occurs when we think about the actions of others. I propose that the mechanism underlying awareness of how our own intentions lead to actions can also be used to represent the intentions that underlie the actions of others. This common system enables us to communicate mental states and thereby share our experiences.
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Humans are almost always thinking about and through other people.
“humans are almost always thinking about and through other people”
From Hypernatural Monitoring: A Social Rehearsal Account of Smartphone Addiction (2018) · cites this paper as Frith, 2002
PFm and MFa show activation when humans reflect on the thoughts and intentions of others.
“PFm and MFa show activations when humans reflect on the thoughts and intentions of others (107, 108).”
From Localization of Dysfunction in Major Depressive Disorder: Prefrontal Cortex and Amygdala (2011) · cites this paper as [107]
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References 37 · Cited by 110
- Authors
- Frith, C.
- Affiliations
- UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Frith, Chris
- ORCID
- Frith, Chris
- Venue
- Consciousness and Cognition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2002-12
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 481-487
- ISSN
- 1053-8100 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2040562649
- Cited by
- 110
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 2.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Consciousness and Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Free Will and Agency
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Keywords
- action awareness, sense of agency, intentionality, temporal binding, anterior cingulate cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, theory of mind, shared consciousness, action control
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Awareness, Communication, Humans, Models, Psychological, Perception, Mind-Body Relations, Metaphysical
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