Control over self and others’ face: Exploitation and exploration

The sense of agency, defined as the subjective experience of controlling one’s actions and their consequences, is a fundamental aspect of human cognition. This study introduces a dual-mode theory that posits two underlying modes: Exploitation and exploration. Exploitation aligns with the comparator model, relying on prediction errors and a strong sense of self-agency, whereas exploration involves accounting for others’ potential influence and a more flexible self-model. We employed a face-motion mixing paradigm using a deep generative model to test our theory, manipulating the belief in control by having participants interact with their own face or someone else’s face, with full or partial control. The results supported our hypothesis, showing that controlling one’s own face, linked to stronger control beliefs, was associated with less movement diversity and sharper drop in agency rating when small discrepancies were presented, compared to controlling someone else’s face, which engaged exploratory behavior and yielded higher agency ratings and more varied movements. These findings contribute to understanding how beliefs in control influence action policies and perceptual sensitivities. The proposed dual-mode theory offers a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic interplay between exploitation and exploration modes of agency, providing a useful framework to predict and interpret the nuanced ways in which individuals experience and exert control in varying contexts