Modeling Sense of Agency using Free Energy

抄録

Sense of agency is the sense that an event is caused by oneself. In the context of man-machine interfaces, it has been proposed that the prediction error of a sensory outcome decreases the sense of agency. We assume that the information content of the sensory response represents the prediction error and thus explains the extent of sense of agency. We use the negative free energy as the information content and formulate the extent of sense of agency as a function of prediction error and sensory precision. The model predicts an interaction effect between the prediction error and sensory precision on the sense of agency. We conducted an experiment through a mouse-clicking task with participants. Between single cue and multiple cues, sensory responses are compared with respect to the effect of response delay as a prediction error on participants’ reported sense of agency value. According to the cue integration model, multiple cues provide more temporal precision of sensory response than a single cue. The results of the experiment supported the interaction effect predicted by the proposed free energy model. Therefore, negative free energy works as a mathematical index of sense of agency.