Schizotypy and the vicarious experience of agency

Sense of agency is the experience of initiating and controlling an action in order to influence one’s environment. It is widely accepted that various different sources of information contribute to sense of agency, including sensorimotor signals and external situational information. Moreover, it has been suggested that atypical experiences in sense of agency in schizophrenia are linked to changes in the relative influence of these agency cues, with external cues being more dominant. This study tests this hypothesis in a non-clinical population by investigating the relationship between schizotypy and performance on the vicarious agency task (a classic demonstration of the effect of external cues on sense of agency). We found that increased susceptibility to the vicarious agency illusion (i.e. an increased feeling of controlling someone else’s action) was linked to higher schizotypy scores. This supports the idea that aberrant experiences of agency in schizophrenia are linked to an increased sensitivity to external agency cues.