The relationship between sense of agency and borderline personality disorder traits in the general population

It has been claimed that Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is associated with impaired self-other discrimination, a core feature of which is the sense of agency (the feeling that one’s actions are one’s own). At present the evidence related to sense of agency in BPD is limited and inconsistent. Here we examine this further by assessing the relationship between sense of agency and BPD traits in the general population. We used intentional binding to quantify sense of agency. Intentional binding refers to the subjective compression of time between and action and its effect when we feel in control of that action. We also used this measure to quantify temporal sensitivity and its relation to BPD traits. We found that sense of agency was weaker and temporal sensitivity was poorer in those with higher BPD traits.