Reflecting on the action or its outcome: Behavior representation level modulates high level outcome priming effects on self-agency experiences

Recent research suggests that one can have the feeling of being the cause of an action’s outcome, even in the absence of a prior intention to act. That is, experienced self-agency over behavior increases when outcome representations are primed outside of awareness, prior to executing the action and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Consciousness and cognition 2010-03, Vol.19 (1), p.21-32
Main Authors: van der Weiden, Anouk, Aarts, Henk, Ruys, Kirsten I.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Action
Awareness
Behavior representation level
Behavioral psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition & reasoning
Cognition. Intelligence
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Intention
Internal-External Control
Miscellaneous
Outcome
Photic Stimulation
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychomotor Performance
Reaction Time
Self Efficacy
Self-agency
Subliminal priming
Subliminal Stimulation
Unconscious (Psychology)
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Summary:Recent research suggests that one can have the feeling of being the cause of an action’s outcome, even in the absence of a prior intention to act. That is, experienced self-agency over behavior increases when outcome representations are primed outside of awareness, prior to executing the action and observing the resulting outcome. Based on the notion that behavior can be represented at different levels, we propose that priming outcome representations is more likely to augment self-agency experiences when the primed representation corresponds with a person’s behavior representation level. Three experiments, using different priming and self-agency tasks, both measuring and manipulating the level of behavior representation, confirmed this idea. Priming high level outcome representations enhanced experienced self-agency over behavior more strongly when behavior was represented at a higher level, rather than a lower level. Thus, priming effects on self-agency experiences critically depend on behavior representation level.
ISSN:1053-8100
1090-2376
DOI:10.1016/j.concog.2009.12.004