The effect of sense of agency for controlling object on visual attention

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K17368
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Experimental psychology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Ryoichi Nakashima 東京大学, 大学院人文社会系研究科(文学部), 助教 (30626073)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 主体感 / 視覚的注意 / 空間的注意 / 道具操作 / 意図

Outline of Final Research Achievements

When a man does some actions, she/he usually feels that she/he is an agent for doing the action, which is called a sense of agency. This study examined how the sense of agency influences visual attention. In concrete, this study investigate, when an observer controls an object apart from her/his body with feeling the agency, whether visual attentional allocation could be biased based on the movement of the object. The experimental results showed that attention tends to orient the location where the controlled object moved. Further, the results showed that this attentional bias requires two factors: first, the observer’s intention and actual action of controlling the object, and second, the outcome of the object moving as intended. In summary, this study suggests that even if an object is separated from the observer’s body, the object’s movement attracts attention when she/he feels a strong sense of agency over its control.

Free Research Field

実験心理学