Agency of others : The intentional binding paradigm in observed actions

Abstract: Sense of agency (SoA) is defined as the subjective experience of being in control of our own actions. This attribution of control underpins all human action and is a vital aspect of the experience of being human. This systematic review sought to address whether intentional binding (IB), a proxy of SoA, can be found during observation of other-generated actions. This was done by investigating the current state of research in the field. Past studies are inconclusive in regards to what factors play into the formation of SoA and the motivation behind this review was to provide a conclusion regarding IB from observed actions. The studies featured in this review found that the IB effect was present in different procedures and contexts which highlights the flexible nature of SoA. Most importantly, this systematic review concluded that IB can and does occur during the observation of other-generated actions. Furthermore, this review found that social influence has an effect on SoA in both human- and robot-observations. We also found that the IB effect manifests in the absence of voluntary actions but to a lesser degree. However, the magnitude of the IB effect varied across studies where one found IB to be greater during action observation than self-generated actions, whilst another study found a weaker IB effect for action observation. Finally, this review provides a discussion on theories that best explain this phenomena, the neural evidence behind action observation, and what implications the findings could have for SoA as a whole