Sense of agency during human-robot interaction

The sense of agency experienced in joint action is thus a central subjective dimension of human sociality. In a series of 3 experiments, we explore the development of we-agency when interacting with robot. Combining a Social Simon task with the intentional binding effect, we explore (1) the emergence of self and we-agency in joint action and (2) the impact of the nature of the partner (human Vs Social robot Vs Computer) on the development of we-agency. Our two first experiments show that a vicarious sense of agency developed when co-acting with another human agent but not with a computer. Moreover, EEG data indicated a decrease in task involvement when engaged in human-computer interaction. A third experiment shows that the social nature of the artificial agent can modulate the development of we-agency, but also that the emergence of a we-unit can alter the development of the self-agency. Taken together, the different studies presented suggest that the science of agency provide us new conceptual tools and measures to analyze agent-system interaction.