Speaker
Description
The studies presented investigate how physiological and pathological fatigue interact with predictive motor mechanisms underpinning the sense of agency (SoA)—the feeling of controlling one’s actions and their consequences (1). A key aspect of these predictive processes is sensory attenuation (SA), the reduced perception of self-generated stimuli, which serves to distinguish between self- and externally-generated events.
We first propose a theoretical framework suggesting dynamic interactions between SA, perceived effort, and fatigue. Building on Kuppuswamy’s Sensory Attenuation Model of Fatigue (2), we introduce a novel allostatic perspective, in which SA, effort, and fatigue are interconnected through the body's anticipatory regulation of energy (3).
To support this model, we present findings from two experimental studies. In individuals with Parkinson’s Disease, pathological fatigue was associated with reduced SA, as measured by impaired performance on a force-matching task, compared to non-fatigued patients and healthy controls. This selective impairment of predictive sensory processing in fatigued patients supports the proposed interaction between fatigue and SA.
A second study extended these findings to the general population, examining how trait and state fatigue relate to SA. Results showed that higher trait fatigue was associated with diminished SA, while experimentally induced acute fatigue (state fatigue) had no significant effect. These findings suggest that stable individual differences in fatigue, rather than transient states, modulate predictive mechanisms underlying SA.
Together, these results provide initial support for a dynamic interaction between fatigue and sensory attenuation through predictive regulation, offering new insights into how internal bodily states shape fundamental aspects of self-experience.
| If you're submitting a symposium talk, what's the symposium title? | Senso di responsabilità: quando l’azione si fa coscienza |
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| If you're submitting a symposium, or a talk that is part of a symposium, is this a junior symposium? | Yes |
