A predictive processing model of perception and action for self-other distinction

TL;DR

This paper introduces a hierarchical predictive processing model that explains how the motor system distinguishes between self and other during social interactions, supported by simulation results demonstrating accurate agency attribution.

Contribution

It presents a novel hierarchical sensorimotor model based on predictive processing principles that accounts for self-other distinction during perception and action.

Findings

Model minimizes free energy during perception and action.

Model correctly attributes sense of agency to own actions.

Simulations demonstrate effective self-other distinction.

Abstract

During interaction with others, we perceive and produce social actions in close temporal distance or even simultaneously. It has been argued that the motor system is involved in perception and action, playing a fundamental role in the handling of actions produced by oneself and by others. But how does it distinguish in this processing between self and other, thus contributing to self-other distinction? In this paper we propose a hierarchical model of sensorimotor coordination based on principles of perception-action coupling and predictive processing in which self-other distinction arises during action and perception. For this we draw on mechanisms assumed for the integration of cues for a sense of agency, i.e., the sense that an action is self-generated. We report results from simulations of different scenarios, showing that the model is not only able to minimize free energy during perception and action, but also showing that the model can correctly attribute sense of agency to own actions.