Intentional Binding and the Sense of Time
Core fact: Our sense of agency is not binary but a graded, predictive construct. Intentional binding compresses the perceived gap between action and outcome, strongest when outcomes match expectations within a short window of a few hundred milliseconds. The effect weakens with longer delays, uncertain feedback, or cognitive load, and is reduced in conditions such as schizophrenia, showing agency arises from prediction, attention, and context, not will alone.
