The relationship between the sense of self-agency and schizotypal personality traits

Abstract

People with schizotypal traits may possess abnormal self-awareness, particularly with regard to their sense of self-agency, that is, the sense that it is oneself who is causing or generating an action. Participants in Experiments 1A (N = 11), 1B (N = 12), and 2 (N = 20) moved a mouse device and viewed resultant feedback, which was biased either temporally or spatially. They then judged whether there was a bias or whether they felt they had moved the cursor on their own. The authors found, for the 1st time, that a sense of self-agency can be experienced even if some degree of temporal bias is perceived. Furthermore, they determined that highly schizotypal people have an abnormal (weaker) sense of self-agency.