agency

Cognitive neuropsychology of agency

The symposium starts at 3:00 p.m.

Summary description of the symposium

A distinctive feature of human mental life is the capacity to initiate voluntary action, and to use this capacity to achieve goals. Until recently, these processes of agency were often considered more suitable for metaphysical than experimental inquiry.  The last two decades have seen an important return of agency, for several reasons.  First, improved methods of psychological measurement have helped to capture and analyse the characteristic experiences of voluntary action and of instrumental agency.  Second, converging evidence from several independent areas of neuroscience and psychiatry has identified specific agency networks in the brain.  Third, will and agency are no longer treated as transcendental functions, but are anchored within wider cognitive frameworks for motivation, action and cognition.

Patrick Haggard will give a brief introduction to the problems of  volition and agency in cognitive neuroscience, based on his own attempts to quantify the sense of agency using implicit measures.  

Angela Sirigu will describe her work on artificial induction of experience of volition by direct electrical stimulation, and will argue for the importance of the parietal lobe in intentional action.  

Biyu Jade He will illustrate how conscious movement intention can be modulated by brain stimulation. 

Finally, John-Dylan Haynes will discuss the predictive value of neurophysiological signals on the nature and content of our intentions.

Patrick Haggard will then end the symposium with a short discussion of the future research challenges and research agendas for the scientific understanding of this key aspect of human nature.

References:

Haggard et al., (2002) Nat Neurosci. 5(4):382-385.

Desmurget and Sirigu (2009) Trends Cogn Sci. 13(10):411-419

Douglas et al. (2015) J Neurosci 35:7239-7255.

Soon CS et al (2013) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110(15):6217-6222.