In our daily lives, we frequently execute actions that require several steps to bring about the outcome. However, investigations on how the sense of agency—the sense of controlling our actions and their outcomes—evolves in multi-step actions are still lacking. The purpose of the present research is to fill this gap. In the present study, the participants executed one-step, two-step, and three-step actions in which one, two, or three keys had to be pressed consecutively to generate a tone. We used sensory attenuation as an implicit measure of the sense of agency. Sensory attenuation means that self-produced sensory effects are perceived as less intense than externally generated effects. In the present experiment, sensory attenuation was measured in a psychophysical paradigm and increased in multi-step actions compared to the one-step action. We also asked the participants to explicitly rate the amount to which they felt that they had generated the tone. Ratings were highest in the one-step condition and dropped for multi-step actions, thus showing the opposite pattern of the sensory attenuation data. We assume that enhanced sensory attenuation in multi-step actions could be due to increased effort or more accurate sensorimotor predictions of action effects. The decrease in explicit ratings for multi-step actions might be attributed to reduced perception of causality.

中文翻译：

---

多步行动中的代理感

在我们的日常生活中，我们经常执行需要多个步骤才能产生结果的行为。然而，关于代理意识——控制我们的行为及其结果的意识——如何在多步骤行动中演变的研究仍然缺乏。本研究的目的就是填补这一空白。在本研究中，参与者执行一步、两步和三步动作，其中必须连续按下一个、两个或三个键才能产生音调。我们使用感觉衰减作为代理感的隐式测量。感官衰减意味着自我产生的感官效应被认为不如外部产生的效应那么强烈。在本实验中，感官衰减是在心理物理学范式中测量的，并且与一步动作相比，在多步动作中有所增加。我们还要求参与者明确评价他们认为自己产生音调的程度。单步条件下的评分最高，多步动作的评分下降，因此显示出与感官衰减数据相反的模式。我们假设多步动作中增强的感觉衰减可能是由于增加的努力或更准确的动作效果的感觉运动预测。多步骤动作的显式评分下降可能是由于对因果关系的感知降低。我们假设多步动作中增强的感觉衰减可能是由于增加的努力或更准确的动作效果的感觉运动预测。多步骤动作的显式评分下降可能是由于对因果关系的感知降低。我们假设多步动作中增强的感觉衰减可能是由于增加的努力或更准确的动作效果的感觉运动预测。多步骤动作的显式评分下降可能是由于对因果关系的感知降低。