Technological advancements have resulted in highly automated systems that are featured in many kinds of tools and devices, such as self-driving cars, autopilot in airplanes, and much more. Such systems have enabled tools to plan, decide, and act autonomously. This breakthrough resulted in a new manner of interacting with tools, known as "Human-Robot Joint Action" or "human-AI interaction," in which people and automated tools share control over the tasks that must be performed. However, little is known about the impact of such interactions on people and their sense of agency (SoA) as well as how much autonomy to grant to tools. As a result, the objective of this systematic review is to investigate and understand how automated tools affect human SoA, and if tools with different levels of automation affect our SoA differently. A search in two databases, Scopus, and MEDLINE EBSCO was conducted, and 8 articles were included. The findings suggest that the more automated the tool is, the less SoA participants experience, and that varied levels of automation may impact human SoA depending on the nature of the task. However, this topic is still in its infancy and more research is needed.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第20805号 / 医博第4305号 / 新制||医||1025(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 高橋 淳, 教授 古川 壽亮, 教授 小杉 眞司 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

This thesis explored the effects of social exclusion on the sense of control. We indexed the sense of control using the sense of agency. The sense of agency refers to the feeling of control over our actions and the outcomes of those actions. We experience the sense of agency at an implicit, pre-reflective level. In other words, we routinely make movements that impact some sort of change in the environment, and simply just know that our actions cause an effect. Experimentally, we can measure the sense of agency using the intentional binding effect. Intentional binding is a temporal illusion in which we perceive the time between our voluntary action and the outcome of that action to be shorted compared to when the same effect is caused by an involuntary action. We conducted three experiments. In experiment one, we used an episodic memory recall task to prime participants to feel socially excluded or socially included. In experiment two, we used a different manipulation of social exclusion and social inclusion called Cyberball. We found that in both experiments, intentional binding was significantly reduced following social exclusion compared to social inclusion and baseline. In experiment three, we investigated the pre-reflective sense of agency in eating disorders. Eating disorders are highly associated with chronic social exclusion experiences and an altered sense of control in life. We found that individuals with higher eating disorder symptomatology experience a lower sense of agency, compared to healthy individuals. Overall, this thesis is the first to demonstrate that social exclusion has observable effects on the sense of agency. We were able to triangulate these findings using another social exclusion manipulation as well, strengthening our original findings. Lastly, we showed that a disorder characterized, in part, by social exclusion, reduces the sense of agency / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Das Gefühl der Kontrolle über die eigenen körperlichen Handlungen, und dadurch über die externe Umwelt ist einer der Grundpfeiler unserer menschlichen Existenz. Dieser fundamentale Aspekt der Identität ist bekannt als ‘Sense of Agency’ (SoA). Innerhalb der Neurowissenschaften begann die intensive Untersuchung dieses faszinierenden Konzepts erst innerhalb der letzten zwei Jahrzehnte. Das vorliegende Forschungsprojekt befasst sich mit zwei zentralen Aspekten des Sense of Agency. Zum einen wurden die zwei zugrundeliegenden neurokognitiven Mechanismen ‘Vorhersage’ und ‘Retrospektive Inferenz’ untersucht. Zum anderen wurde die Zuschreibung von Agency bei weiteren Ko-Akteuren, mit denen eine gemeinsame Aufgabe bewältigt werden musste untersucht. Das durchgeführte Forschungsprojekt trägt somit zu einem tieferen Verständnis menschlicher Agency auf individueller Ebene und im sozialen Kontext bei. Außerdem liefert es Implikationen für die Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion und die Verbesserung zukünftiger Mensch-Maschine-Schnittstellen. / The seamless feeling of control over one’s own bodily actions, and through them, over the external environment is one of the cornerstones of our existence as human beings. This fundamental aspect of personal identity has been termed the sense of agency (SoA). It is only within the last two decades that this intriguing concept has begun to be intensively studied in the cognitive neurosciences. In the current research project we addressed two central aspects of the sense of agency. First, we investigated its underlying neurocognitive mechanisms: prediction and retrospective inference. Second, we looked into the attribution of agency to other co-actors when cooperating in a joint task. Overall, the current research project has made a step towards a better and deeper understanding of human agency in the individual as well as the social contexts. Additionally, the findings presented in this work inform the field of human-computerinteraction and contribute to the improvement of future interface designs.

Thesis advisor: Ce Shen / Civic engagement, involving people in public processes to achieve common goals, has received increased attention in the past several decades. This renewed interest was triggered by the seeming decline in civic engagement, particularly in the context of Western societies including the U.S. In addition, its potentially positive effects, such as psychological well-being at the individual level, have recently received much attention. Low-income people in developing countries suffer from double discrimination: first, the lack of opportunities to participate in civic matters due to their low socio-economic status (SES) and second, the lack of civil society culture in developing countries. However, less attention has been paid to civic engagement in the context of developing countries and low-income people, in spite of the importance of civic engagement to them. Given the significance of civic engagement for low-income populations in developing countries, this dissertation intends to fill the gaps left by previous scholarship. The following are specific objectives for the study: 1) Paper 1 aims to investigate the construct validity of an instrument to measure civic engagement among low-income populations in developing countries; 2) Paper 2 aims to examine the associations between country-level political and economic determinants and civic engagement among low-income people in developing countries; and 3) Paper 3 aims to examine the effect of civic engagement on subjective well-being through the mediating effect of sense of agency. Using the cross-national data set, the World Values Survey Wave 6 (2010-2014), this study first found that civic engagement among low-income individuals in low- and middle-income countries is defined in three dimensions: electoral behaviors, membership in civic organizations, and cognitive engagement. This result contributes to measurement development of civic engagement, especially among the low-income individuals in the context of developing countries, who have been neglected in policy-making processes. In Paper 2, I found that civic engagement increases in economically disadvantaged environments (low GNI per capita and high Gini coefficient). This finding may reveal the strength that low-income populations have. Lastly, the results of Paper 3 showed that electoral engagement and membership in civic organizations were directly related to well-being, but cognitive engagement had an indirect effect on well-being through a sense of agency. Also, the result of a non-recursive model showed that engagement in electoral behaviors leads to a sense of well-being, not in the reverse direction. The results from Paper 3 may demonstrate the mechanism by which civic engagement is related to well-being. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

O presente trabalho busca investigar a relação da díade percepção-ação, especialmente entre percepção de imagem corporal e senso de agência. O estudo também tem como objetivo investigar se a forma como o indivíduo se percebe e seu nível de consciência da ação possuem relação com o índice de massa corporal. Outro objetivo foi avaliar que instrumentos vêm sendo utilizados para medir a imagem corporal. A estrutura da dissertação comporta dois estudos, um de revisão sistemática e outro empírico. A revisão investigou o instrumental de avaliação de imagem corporal em obesos no contexto de intervenção cirúrgica. Os resultados revelaram divergências quanto ao construto de imagem corporal e sua avaliação. O estudo empírico consistiu de uma tarefa experimental de ilusão sensoriomotora que buscou avaliar a relação entre imagem corporal e senso de agência. Os dados apontaram que pessoas com distorções de imagem corporal não tiveram pior desempenho na tarefa, mas apresentaram menor nível de confiança nas suas respostas. / This study aims to investigate the relationship of perception-action dyad, especially between perception of body image and sense of agency. The study also aims to investigate the way the individual perceives and its action level of consciousness are related to body mass index. Another objective was to evaluate what tools have been used to measure body image. The dissertation structure comprises two studies, a systematic review and other empirical. The review investigated the instrumental evaluation of body image in obese surgical intervention in context. The results revealed differences in the body image construct and evaluation. The empirical study consisted of a sensorimotor illusion experimental task was to evaluate the relationship between body image and sense of agency. The data showed that people with body image distortions did not performed worse on the task, but had a lower confidence level in their responses.

O presente trabalho busca investigar a relação da díade percepção-ação, especialmente entre percepção de imagem corporal e senso de agência. O estudo também tem como objetivo investigar se a forma como o indivíduo se percebe e seu nível de consciência da ação possuem relação com o índice de massa corporal. Outro objetivo foi avaliar que instrumentos vêm sendo utilizados para medir a imagem corporal. A estrutura da dissertação comporta dois estudos, um de revisão sistemática e outro empírico. A revisão investigou o instrumental de avaliação de imagem corporal em obesos no contexto de intervenção cirúrgica. Os resultados revelaram divergências quanto ao construto de imagem corporal e sua avaliação. O estudo empírico consistiu de uma tarefa experimental de ilusão sensoriomotora que buscou avaliar a relação entre imagem corporal e senso de agência. Os dados apontaram que pessoas com distorções de imagem corporal não tiveram pior desempenho na tarefa, mas apresentaram menor nível de confiança nas suas respostas. / This study aims to investigate the relationship of perception-action dyad, especially between perception of body image and sense of agency. The study also aims to investigate the way the individual perceives and its action level of consciousness are related to body mass index. Another objective was to evaluate what tools have been used to measure body image. The dissertation structure comprises two studies, a systematic review and other empirical. The review investigated the instrumental evaluation of body image in obese surgical intervention in context. The results revealed differences in the body image construct and evaluation. The empirical study consisted of a sensorimotor illusion experimental task was to evaluate the relationship between body image and sense of agency. The data showed that people with body image distortions did not performed worse on the task, but had a lower confidence level in their responses.

In this inquiry I used Black Feminist Thought as the interpretive lens to investigate the characterizations and experiences of high achieving Black women undergraduate engineering and mathematics majors at a predominantly white institution. The qualitative inquiry considered intersecting oppressions to evaluate the experiences of this population. In particular, Black women operate in the intersection of race and gender, thus for a thorough analysis of their engineering and mathematics experiences to occur, the historical context of the United States and its oppressive structures must be considered. Stereotypes and systemic oppression follow this socially constructed identity as the participants enter the fields of engineering and mathematics as Black women. In order to develop relevant suggestions to increase the participation of this population in the field, I assert that the social construction of this intersectional identity must be considered. I evaluated the participants' experiences to determine its influence on their academic persistence and overall well-being. I implemented sista circle methodology, an ethnographic method that embodies a gender specific research methodology. Sista circle methodology expands beyond traditional methodology to draw on social relations, the wisdom of Black women in U.S. context, and functions as a medium for mentorship as a Black feminist practice. The data I collected as part of this study included a demographic survey, pre-interview, two sista circles, vision board collage, post-sista circle electronic reflection, "sista circle" alternative interview, and member checking. There were five participants in this study, and three of these participants engaged in the sista circle unity getaway and the remaining two participants completed the sista circle alternative interview. I analyzed the responses of all five participants in the interviews and sista circles to identify themes that emerged in this study. Eight themes emerged from the data: The first finding presented normalized policies and practices that reproduced an unwelcoming academic climate and specifically, 1) access to caring professors and the 2) competitive isolating environment. The academic climate forced the participants to negotiate self-doubt as they question if their program is the appropriate means to pursue their future career endeavors, in the second finding the participants experienced 3) variations in program expectations and reality, 4) a shift in academic self-concept, and 5) negotiated alternatives to persistence. In the third finding the participants responded to the conditions in the academic climate through forms of resistance, which include the construction of a 6) professional persona, 7) sense of community and peer bonds, and identifying 8) academic opportunities as motivational tools.

O presente trabalho busca investigar a relação da díade percepção-ação, especialmente entre percepção de imagem corporal e senso de agência. O estudo também tem como objetivo investigar se a forma como o indivíduo se percebe e seu nível de consciência da ação possuem relação com o índice de massa corporal. Outro objetivo foi avaliar que instrumentos vêm sendo utilizados para medir a imagem corporal. A estrutura da dissertação comporta dois estudos, um de revisão sistemática e outro empírico. A revisão investigou o instrumental de avaliação de imagem corporal em obesos no contexto de intervenção cirúrgica. Os resultados revelaram divergências quanto ao construto de imagem corporal e sua avaliação. O estudo empírico consistiu de uma tarefa experimental de ilusão sensoriomotora que buscou avaliar a relação entre imagem corporal e senso de agência. Os dados apontaram que pessoas com distorções de imagem corporal não tiveram pior desempenho na tarefa, mas apresentaram menor nível de confiança nas suas respostas. / This study aims to investigate the relationship of perception-action dyad, especially between perception of body image and sense of agency. The study also aims to investigate the way the individual perceives and its action level of consciousness are related to body mass index. Another objective was to evaluate what tools have been used to measure body image. The dissertation structure comprises two studies, a systematic review and other empirical. The review investigated the instrumental evaluation of body image in obese surgical intervention in context. The results revealed differences in the body image construct and evaluation. The empirical study consisted of a sensorimotor illusion experimental task was to evaluate the relationship between body image and sense of agency. The data showed that people with body image distortions did not performed worse on the task, but had a lower confidence level in their responses.

For centuries, criminal and deviant behaviors have always been considered as a mystery because they do not represent the social norm. Why do some people hurt others or themselves? What guides the decision to perform good or bad actions? What is the role played by individual differences in such choices? Criminal behavior is not an unitary phenomenon and many approaches can be proposed to understand it. In the present thesis, I focused on the subjective experience that accompanies our actions commonly known as the sense of agency. The sense of agency can be defined as the experience of being the author of an action and its consequences. Therefore, understanding how the subjective experience of being responsible for an outcome influences our actions is a key issue for the notion of criminal responsibility. Throughout each chapter of the present thesis, I aimed at systematically explore how disturbances in the intention-action-outcome chain impact the sense of agency, by using behavioral and electrophysiological methods. I hope the methods and findings presented in this thesis will provide new routes to explore the human mind and particularly the sense of agency in the context of moral responsibility. / Doctorat en Sciences psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished