The Sense of Agency

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The ability to recognize of being the actors of the behaviour and its consequences, the so-called Sense of Agency (SoA), is a crucial component of self-awareness. One key aspect is the distinction from a mere inference about the causality between an act and its consequences and the sense of being the agent of it. Despite a large number of behavioural studies, there is unsatisfactory evidence on the functional anatomical underpinnings of the SoA and the distinction between causality and the SoA proper. Here, the investigators use an implicit measurement of the SoA and its modulations during fMRI: the intentional binding phenomenon (IB). The ivestigators also study how the SoA and the ensuing neurophysiological correlates are modulated by the presence of a movement disorders, such as Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome.

Official Title
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Behavioural and Neurofunctional Correlates of the Sense of Agency

Conditions
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Motor Activity, Motor Tic Disorders

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Behavioral and fMRI


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Age included between 18 and 65 years Right handed No contraindication to the fMRI exam Exclusion Criteria: Contraindication to the fMRI exam

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 65 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Healthy subjects<br> | Other: Behavioral and fMRI<br>* Subjects and patients will perform temporal-judgment-tasks (considered an indirect measure of the sense of agency) in an event-related fMRI setting. In the first task, they will hear a sound either caused by a voluntary key press or by the passive displacement of the same finger by the experimenter. Following each trial, subjects will estimate the delay between the finger movement and the subsequent sound, which will be presented at variable latencies after the key press. There will be also control-trials characterized by the active or passive movement with a subsequent sound presented with a delay that excludes causality inferences.<br>|
| Patients with Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome<br> | Other: Behavioral and fMRI<br>* Subjects and patients will perform temporal-judgment-tasks (considered an indirect measure of the sense of agency) in an event-related fMRI setting. In the first task, they will hear a sound either caused by a voluntary key press or by the passive displacement of the same finger by the experimenter. Following each trial, subjects will estimate the delay between the finger movement and the subsequent sound, which will be presented at variable latencies after the key press. There will be also control-trials characterized by the active or passive movement with a subsequent sound presented with a delay that excludes causality inferences.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BOLD signal changes | The investigators will measure the changes of the BOLD signal associated with the modification of the sense of agency both in healthy subjects and neurological patients. | April 2017 - October 2019 |