Unconscious authorship ascription: The effects of success and effect-specific information priming on experienced authorship

The experience of authorship arises when we feel that our own actions (e.g., pushing a light-switch) cause possible effects (e.g., the onset of a light). Two experiments tested the idea that authorship experiences may be driven by an unconscious authorship ascription process that relies on cues for a possible link between own actions and effects. Consistent with studies on self-attributions and success, Experiment 1 observed that subliminal priming of success enhanced feelings of control. Experiment 2 demonstrated that success-priming effects on authorship assessment resembled those of effect-specific information priming: Priming the possible effects of an action prior to their occurrence increased experiences of authorship in all participants, and success-priming only increased experienced authorship if effect information was not primed. These findings suggest that feelings of authorship result from expectations of matches that can be guided by enhanced accessibility of effect-specific information or the concept of success itself.