Understanding Subjective Agency Through the Mirror Neuron System: Does the Immune System also Play Some Role?

Antonella Tramacere (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)

Abstract:  At which level of sensorimotor complexity, performing intentional actions is associated with the subjective experience of agency? I answer this question by considering the mirror neurons system, a network of interconnected neural regions related to the execution and perception of own and others’ goal-directed actions. I propose a manipulative, neuroethological framework, which operationalizes organism behavior on a three-dimensional model of subjective agency. The first two axes consider respectively the level of multimodal stimulus generalization, and the flexibility of counterfactual behavioral responses, allowing to locate subjective agency on a spectrum that spans from reflexive behavior to a fully subjectively experienced distal action. The third axis represents the level of self-other sensitivity, possibly tested through the analysis of behavioral response to the modulation of motivational-based neuroimmunological processes. I will conclude by discussing the role of the immune – nervous systems interactions in subjective agency.