Premium
ERP correlates of processing the auditory consequences of own versus observed actions
Author(s) -
Ghio Marta,
Scharmach Katrin,
Bellebaum Christian
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/psyp.13048
Subject(s) - psychology , action (physics) , feeling , sensory system , sense of agency , sensory processing , cognitive psychology , agency (philosophy) , event related potential , neural correlates of consciousness , contingent negative variation , audiology , communication , electroencephalography , social psychology , cognition , neuroscience , medicine , philosophy , physics , epistemology , quantum mechanics
Research has so far focused on neural mechanisms that allow us to predict the sensory consequences of our own actions, thus also contributing to ascribing them to ourselves as agents. Less attention has been devoted to processing the sensory consequences of observed actions ascribed to another human agent. Focusing on audition, there is consistent evidence of a reduction of the auditory N1 ERP for self‐ versus externally generated sounds, while ERP correlates of processing sensory consequences of observed actions are mainly unexplored. In a between‐groups ERP study, we compared sounds generated by self‐performed (self group) or observed (observation group) button presses with externally generated sounds, which were presented either intermixed with action‐generated sounds or in a separate condition. Results revealed an overall reduction of the N1 amplitude for processing action‐ versus externally generated sounds in both the intermixed and the separate condition, with no difference between the groups. Further analyses, however, suggested that an N1 attenuation effect relative to the intermixed condition at frontal electrode sites might exist only for the self but not for the observation group. For both groups, we found a reduction of the P2 amplitude for processing action‐ versus all externally generated sounds. We discuss whether the N1 and the P2 reduction can be interpreted in terms of predictive mechanisms for both action execution and observation, and to what extent these components might reflect also the feeling of (self) agency and the judgment of agency (i.e., ascribing agency either to the self or to others).