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نمایش مقاله

Title:

Spatial Organization of Feedback Processing Under Agency and No-Agency Task Contexts

Subject:

Advanced Techniques in Signal Acquisition and Image Processing

Presenter Author:
Name:	Radmehr Bahrami

Author:
Name 1:	Radmehr Bahrami - Presenter
Affiliation 1:	IPM

Name 2:	Karim Rajaei
Affiliation 2:	IPM

Name 3:	Reza Ebrahimpour
Affiliation 3:	Sharif University of technology, IPM

Name 4:	Hamid Soltanian-Zadeh - Corresponding
Affiliation 4:	University of Tehran, IPM

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Abstract

Original Research

introduction :

The sense of agency, that is the subjective experience of control over one’s actions and their consequences, is a fundamental component of goal-directed behavior and is closely linked to reward processing. Prior work has shown that reward feedback processing is supported by a distributed set of neural systems that extend beyond classical valuation regions, yet it remains unclear how the spatial organization of feedback-related brain responses varies across task contexts that differ in perceived control. This study seeks to characterize the spatial organization of feedback processing under agency and no-agency conditions. This work may provide important groundwork for understanding how control shapes valuation processes and modulates reward processing circuitry.

Methods:

Functional MRI data were analyzed from 32 healthy adults who completed a gambling task comprising agency and no-agency conditions. Feedback events were modeled separately for each condition using a general linear model at the subject level. First-level analyses employed a weighted least squares approach incorporating subject-level variance estimates to improve robustness to heteroscedasticity. Whole-brain statistical maps were generated for feedback-related activity within each task context. Correction for multiple comparisons was performed using precomputed Monte Carlo simulations with a two-sided test, applying a cluster-wise significance threshold of p < 0.05, corrected across both cortical hemispheres.

Results:

Whole-brain analyses revealed qualitatively distinct patterns of feedback-related activation across the two task contexts. During the agency condition, feedback elicited widespread activation across a distributed network encompassing medial and lateral prefrontal regions, anterior insula, posterior cingulate cortex, and orbitofrontal areas, alongside visual regions. This pattern suggests the engagement of systems associated with outcome evaluation, salience processing, and higher-order cognitive control when feedback is perceived as contingent on one’s actions. In contrast, feedback-related activity in the no-agency condition was largely confined to occipital and early visual cortical regions, with minimal engagement of frontal or insular areas. The restricted spatial profile observed under no-agency indicates a more perceptual processing of outcomes when control over results is absent.

Conclusion:

These findings demonstrate that feedback-related brain activity differs markedly in its whole-brain spatial organization depending on task context and perceived control. While agency is associated with broad engagement of frontal and insular networks implicated in evaluative and control-related processes, no-agency feedback primarily recruits visual processing regions. By providing a descriptive whole-brain account of feedback processing across contexts, this work establishes a foundation for future analyses examining how perceived agency modulates reward-related neural dynamics and how these effects are integrated across neural systems.

Keywords:

Sense of Agency, Cognitive Control, Feedback Processing