Brain activity and the perception of self-agency while viewing a video of hand grasping: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study.

Self-agency is the recognition of one's own movement and plays a vital role in purposeful, voluntary movement. A sense of self-agency can be elicited in individuals who view their own simple finger movements as they are projected onto a screen and aligned with their actual hand position. Here, we examined whether individuals perceived self-agency when they viewed a video of a hand grasping a wooden cylinder and whether the perception of self-agency correlated with simultaneous changes in oxy-hemoglobin in the parietal or the prefrontal cortical areas. All participants reported the perception of self-agency, which was correlated with oxy-hemoglobin increases in the right prefrontal area. We conclude that self-agency also relates to hand-held objects displayed on video.