日本認知心理学会会員の皆様，
（複数の団体に本案内を配信しております。重複して受け取られた際はどうかご容赦ください）

Frontiers in Psychology誌にて運動主体感（sense of agency）に関する特集を企画しております。
皆様からのご投稿を心よりお待ち申し上げております。

特集の概要や投稿要領について下記をご覧ください。
https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/70464/exploring-the-sense-of-agency-as-a-phenomenon-and-an-ability

Title: Exploring the Sense of Agency as a Phenomenon and an Ability

Manuscript Summary Submission Deadline: 5 August 2025
Manuscript Submission Deadline: 17 December 2025

Background:
The field of research centers on the concept of the sense of agency, which
refers to the subjective experience of controlling one’s actions and,
through them, external events. Recent discussions on the sense of agency
explore whether it should be regarded as a distinct phenomenon, an ability
to differentiate between self and other, or both.

As a phenomenon, this subjective feeling is believed to be closely tied to
conscious experience and is linked to the predictive processes. Researchers
are interested in how this phenomenon arises from our volitions, actions,
and perceptions. How this phenomenon shapes our perception has been
examined since the establishment of the concept of the sense of agency in
the early 2000s. Furthermore, the question of how we can measure this
phenomenon, as it is subjective, remains unsolved.

Meanwhile, the sense of agency is also considered an ability to correctly
distinguish between self and other. This ability shapes our actions through
which we interact with the external world. Impairments, individual
differences, and the impact of this ability on other cognitive functions
are attracting attention from researchers from multiple fields besides
psychology and neuroscience, such as robotics, psychiatry, and computer
science.

This research topic aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the
sense of agency as both a phenomenon and an ability. Specifically, it seeks
to determine whether the sense of agency is merely a byproduct of action or
if it plays a causal role in shaping behavior. To achieve this, the study
will systematically test action intention against all possible alternative
causes within a single experimental framework, addressing gaps left by
previous fragmented investigations.

Additionally, it will examine the characteristics of implicit self-agency
and other-agency in social interactions using an interval estimation
paradigm. This approach will allow for a precise analysis of how
individuals differentiate between self-generated and externally generated
actions. By integrating these aspects, the research aims to clarify the
cognitive and behavioral mechanisms underlying agency perception, offering
valuable insights into how agency functions in both individual and social
contexts.

To gather further insights into the sense of agency, we welcome articles
addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

  • The measures and models of the sense of agency.
  • Agency as a reinforcer/reward/modulator of reward.
  • The relationship between agency, control, and causality judgment.
  • Agency in psychopathology conditions such as schizophrenia, OCD, and
    autism.
  • The relationship between temporal binding for action-event sequences, the
    sense of agency, self-efficacy, and symptom severity in major neurological
    disorders.
  • The impact of a dual-faceted understanding of the sense of agency and its
    implications for human–AI interactions.
  • The concept of “we-agency” and its implications for human responsibility.
  • The potential mechanisms of intentional binding and the utility of
    computational modeling to investigate how humans infer the causal and
    temporal structures of events.

Topic Editors:
Wen Wen, Rikkyo University
Shu Imaizumi, Ochanomizu University
Baruch Eitam, University of Haifa
Bruno Berberian, National d’Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales

お問い合わせ先：
今泉修（お茶の水女子大学）imaizumi.shu[at]ocha.ac.jp（[at]を@に変更して下さい。）