Orthodox neurocognitive accounts of the bodily sense of agency suggest that the experience of agency arises when action-effects are anticipated accurately. In this paper, I argue that while successful anticipation is crucial for the sense of agency, the role of unsuccessful prediction has been neglected, and that inefficacy and uncertainty are no less central to the sense of agency. I will argue that this is reflected in the phenomenology of agency, which can be characterized both as the experience of (1) efficacy and (2) effort. Specifically, the “sense of efficacy” refers to the perceptual experience of an action unfolding as anticipated. The “sense of effort”, in contrast, arises when an action has an uncertain trajectory, feels difficult, and demands the exertion of control. In this case, actions do not unfold as anticipated and require continuing adaptation if they are to be efficacious. I propose that, taken individually, the experience of efficacy and effort are insufficient for the sense of agency and that these experiences can even disrupt the sense of agency when they occur in isolation from each other. I further argue that a fully-fledged sense of agency depends on the temporally extensive process of prediction error-cancelation. This way, a comparator account can accommodate both the role of accurate prediction and prediction error and thus efficacy and effort.

中文翻译：

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努力，不确定性和代理意识

对代理人身体感觉的正统神经认知研究表明，当准确预期行动效果时，代理人的经验就产生了。在本文中，我认为尽管成功的预期对于代理意识至关重要，但不成功的预测的作用已被忽略，效率低下和不确定性对代理意识同样重要。我将争辩说，这反映在代理的现象学上，可以将其表征为（1）效力和（2）努力的经验。具体而言，“功效感”是指如预期的那样展开的动作的感知体验。相反，当动作具有不确定的轨迹，感到困难并且需要控制时，就会出现“努力的感觉”。在这种情况下，行动未如预期的那样发展，并且要想发挥作用，就需要持续的适应。我认为，从个体的角度来看，效力和努力的经验不足以体现代理感，而当这些经历彼此孤立地发生时，这些体验甚至可能会破坏代理感。我进一步指出，完全的代理意识取决于预测误差消除的时间广泛过程。这样，比较器帐户既可以容纳准确的预测和预测错误的角色，也可以容纳功效和精力。对于代理人而言，效力和努力的经验是不够的，当这些经验彼此隔离时，甚至会破坏代理人的意识。我进一步指出，完全的代理意识取决于预测误差消除的时间广泛过程。这样，比较器帐户既可以容纳准确的预测和预测错误的角色，也可以容纳功效和精力。对于代理人而言，效力和努力的经验是不够的，当这些经验彼此隔离时，甚至会破坏代理人的意识。我进一步指出，完全的代理意识取决于预测误差消除的时间广泛过程。这样，比较器帐户既可以容纳准确的预测和预测错误的角色，也可以容纳功效和精力。