Exploring the Sense of Agency as a Phenomenon and an Ability

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About this Research Topic

Submission deadlines

  1. Manuscript Summary Submission Deadline 5 August 2025 | Manuscript Submission Deadline 17 December 2025

  2. This Research Topic is still accepting articles.

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Background

The field of research centers on the concept of the sense of agency, which refers to the subjective experience of controlling one's actions and, through them, external events. Recent discussions on the sense of agency explore whether it should be regarded as a distinct phenomenon, an ability to differentiate between self and other, or both.

As a phenomenon, this subjective feeling is believed to be closely tied to conscious experience and is linked to the predictive processes. Researchers are interested in how this phenomenon arises from our volitions, actions, and perceptions. How this phenomenon shapes our perception has been examined since the establishment of the concept of the sense of agency in the early 2000s. Furthermore, the question of how we can measure this phenomenon, as it is subjective, remains unsolved.

Meanwhile, the sense of agency is also considered an ability to correctly distinguish between self and other. This ability shapes our actions through which we interact with the external world. Impairments, individual differences, and the impact of this ability on other cognitive functions are attracting attention from researchers from multiple fields besides psychology and neuroscience, such as robotics, psychiatry, and computer science.

This research topic aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the sense of agency as both a phenomenon and an ability. Specifically, it seeks to determine whether the sense of agency is merely a byproduct of action or if it plays a causal role in shaping behavior. To achieve this, the study will systematically test action intention against all possible alternative causes within a single experimental framework, addressing gaps left by previous fragmented investigations.

Additionally, it will examine the characteristics of implicit self-agency and other-agency in social interactions using an interval estimation paradigm. This approach will allow for a precise analysis of how individuals differentiate between self-generated and externally generated actions. By integrating these aspects, the research aims to clarify the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms underlying agency perception, offering valuable insights into how agency functions in both individual and social contexts.

To gather further insights into the sense of agency, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

- The measures and models of the sense of agency.
- Agency as a reinforcer/reward/modulator of reward.
- The relationship between agency, control, and causality judgment.
- Agency in psychopathology conditions such as schizophrenia, OCD, and autism.
- The relationship between temporal binding for action-event sequences, the sense of agency, self-efficacy, and symptom severity in major neurological disorders.
- The impact of a dual-faceted understanding of the sense of agency and its implications for human–AI interactions.
- The concept of "we-agency" and its implications for human responsibility.
- The potential mechanisms of intentional binding and the utility of computational modeling to investigate how humans infer the causal and temporal structures of events.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

  • Brief Research Report
  • Conceptual Analysis
  • Data Report
  • Editorial
  • General Commentary
  • Hypothesis and Theory
  • Methods
  • Mini Review
  • Opinion

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

  • Brief Research Report
  • Conceptual Analysis
  • Data Report
  • Editorial
  • General Commentary
  • Hypothesis and Theory
  • Methods
  • Mini Review
  • Opinion
  • Original Research
  • Perspective
  • Registered Report
  • Review
  • Systematic Review
  • Technology and Code

Keywords: Sense of Agency, intentional binding, motor control, body consciousness, action awareness, volition, predictive processing, self-attribution, metacognition

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