Learning to be yourself: Disentangling the mechanisms of agency attribution

There are great similarities between the actions of our self and others, not only in terms of movement characteristics, but also in the way those movements are processed in the brain. It is this similarity that allows humans to interpret the actions, intentions and desires of other people. Before we can begin to do this, however, we must be aware whether the source of a perceived action is our self or someone else. The ability to correctly identify our own actions from those of others (agency attribution) is a fundamental component of normal human social interaction and self-awareness. Disentangling the various conscious and unconscious brain mechanisms involved in agency attribution has proved problematic. By varying the accuracy of information regarding the seen and felt position of the hand during motion, using a variety of techniques, including robotic arms, virtual reality and transcranial magnetic stimulation of the brain, this research aims to investigate the contribution of different brain mechanisms in order to provide a greater understanding of how agency is attributed in normal and abnormal populations.