How a Few Minutes of Reflection Can Shift the Feeling of Control

Most adults know the uneasy gap between doing something and feeling like you truly “meant” to do it. You send a sharp email, interrupt your partner, or drift into a habit you promised yourself you’d stop—then wonder, “Was I really in charge there?” Psychologists call that felt ownership over action a sense of agency: the internal experience that you are the one causing what happens next.

The Self-reflection, sense of agency, and underlying neural correlates: A pilot study research paper matters because it tests a surprisingly practical question: can self-reflection—something many people do naturally or in therapy, coaching, and journaling—directly change agency in the moment? Plenty of research links agency to mental health and behavior (for example, feeling powerless can feed anxiety or burnout). But the direct, immediate impact of different kinds of reflection on an implicit measure of agency (one that doesn’t rely on self-report) has been less clear.

This pilot study also adds a second layer: it looks for underlying neural correlates, meaning patterns in brain activity that may track with these shifts. Using EEG (a cap with sensors that measures electrical activity at the scalp), the researchers explored whether certain neural signatures appear when reflection makes agency stronger or weaker. The result is a compact but thought-provoking bridge between everyday mental habits and measurable changes in how control is experienced.

What Changed When People Reflected on “Me” Versus “Beyond Me”

The study compared two styles of reflection: self-centered reflection (attention focused on the self—one’s goals, traits, feelings, and personal narrative) and selfless reflection (attention oriented away from the self—less “my story” and more a broader, decentered perspective). Participants then completed a lab task designed to measure agency implicitly using intentional binding, a timing illusion: when people feel they caused an outcome, the time between their action and the outcome tends to feel shorter.

The headline finding was straightforward: self-centered reflection increased intentional binding, suggesting a stronger sense of agency. Selfless reflection decreased intentional binding, suggesting a weaker sense of agency, at least as captured by this timing-based measure.

In daily life, this maps onto recognizable moments. At work, a self-centered reflection style can resemble, “What did I decide, what was my role, and what will I do next?” That mindset may tighten the connection between action and outcome—helpful when you’re making choices, leading a team, or correcting a mistake. Meanwhile, a selfless reflection style can resemble, “This is part of a bigger system; many factors shape what happens.” That can reduce self-blame and soften stress, but it may also dilute the immediate “I did that” feeling that supports decisive action.

Importantly, this was not just about what participants said they felt. The design aimed to capture agency indirectly through perceived timing—like noticing that when you feel truly responsible for sending a message, the response can seem to follow “right on the heels” of your action.

Why “Less Ego” Doesn’t Always Mean “More Control”

The results challenge an assumption that shows up in self-help culture: that stepping back from the ego automatically improves functioning. Psychologically, both modes of reflection can be useful—but they may do different jobs. Self-centered reflection appears to sharpen the brain’s link between “my action” and “the effect,” which resembles classic theories of agency that emphasize prediction and ownership: if your mind strongly tags an action as “mine,” outcomes feel more tightly connected.

Selfless reflection, in contrast, may introduce psychological distance. That distance can be healthy in many contexts (for example, after rejection, or when rumination spirals). But distance may also weaken the internal stamp of authorship that intentional binding captures. One way to picture this is a common relationship repair moment. If you reflect self-centeredly—“I snapped, I was stressed, I need to apologize and repair”—you may feel more able to act and more responsible for change. If you reflect selflessly—“This conflict is also shaped by our histories, timing, and stressors”—you might feel calmer and less defensive, but also less personally in the driver’s seat.

The neural findings add nuance. Traditional EEG measures and more novel approaches suggested distinct brain patterns across reflection types. The researchers used topological data analysis (a way of capturing the “shape” or complexity of a signal over time) and highlighted measures such as Hodge spectral entropy and persistent entropy. In plain terms, higher entropy here suggests more complex, less repetitive patterns in the EEG signal during selfless reflection than during self-centered reflection or control conditions.

Most strikingly, the study found a negative correlation between a specific neural complexity measure (second-order Hodge spectral entropy) and the intentional binding effect: as this neural complexity increased, the measured sense of agency tended to decrease. That doesn’t mean complexity is “bad.” It may mean that when reflection becomes more distributed, decentered, or expansive, the brain’s action-to-outcome tagging becomes less tight—again, potentially helpful for emotional flexibility, but less supportive of immediate control.

Because this is a pilot study, it should be read as early evidence rather than a final verdict. Still, it offers a compelling idea: the kind of reflection you practice may not only change mood or insight, but also change how strongly you experience yourself as the cause of your actions—and this shift may have detectable neural signatures.

How These Insights Can Help in Therapy, Leadership, and Health Habits

The practical message is not “always focus on yourself” or “always dissolve the ego.” It’s about matching reflection style to the task in front of you.

In psychotherapy and coaching, a clinician might use self-centered reflection when the goal is agency-building: behavior change, boundary-setting, addiction recovery planning, or assertiveness. For example, after a relapse or setback, guided questions like “What did I choose? What can I do differently next time?” can strengthen the felt link between intention and outcome.

Selfless reflection may be strategically useful when the goal is reducing shame, lowering defensiveness, or interrupting rumination. In grief, chronic illness, or workplace burnout, a decentered stance—“Many forces are at play; I can respond without turning everything into a referendum on my worth”—can restore emotional breathing room. The trade-off, suggested by this research paper, is that it might temporarily reduce the implicit sense of being the direct cause, which matters if the next step requires decisive action.

In leadership and business settings, the findings hint at a simple tool: before execution, use self-centered reflection (“What is my call, and what will I do by noon?”). After conflict, pair it with selfless reflection (“What pressures and incentives shaped everyone’s behavior?”) to reduce blame and improve learning without fueling paralysis.

For health habits, the sequence may matter. When starting a new routine—walking, medication adherence, sleep changes—self-centered reflection can reinforce “I initiate; outcomes follow.” When setbacks happen, selfless reflection can prevent the slide into global self-criticism while keeping motivation intact.

A Simple Takeaway: Reflection Isn’t Neutral—It Steers Your Sense of Agency

The core contribution of Self-reflection, sense of agency, and underlying neural correlates: A pilot study is the idea that reflection is not just “thinking about your day.” Different reflection styles can measurably shift agency—the felt experience of being the author of your actions—and those shifts may align with distinct patterns in brain activity.

Self-centered reflection, at least in this experiment, strengthened the action-to-outcome link. Selfless reflection loosened it while showing more complex EEG signatures. The open question worth carrying forward is practical: when you reflect, are you trying to feel more responsible and decisive, or more spacious and less self-judging? Knowing the difference may help you choose the right mental tool for the moment—especially when the next choice really matters.

Data in this article is provided by PLOS.

Related Articles

• Parents of autistic children reported heavy strain and relied on coping rituals
• When ADHD Care Works, It’s Usually Because the System Finally Does
• When Campus Life Feels Too Much: How Creativity and Mind-Body Practices Can Strengthen Well-Being
• When the Brain Stops Staying in Its Lane: What LSD Reveals About Flexibility and Synchrony
• When Teachers Become the Front Line for Child Mental Health
• Teachers on the Front Line of Bullying What Drives Action and What Gets in the Way
• Turning Heartbreak Into a Story: How Writing About a Breakup Changes What You Remember and Expect Next
• Why Some Mental Health Apps Stick While Others Don’t: Lessons from People Using PolarUs for Bipolar Self‑Management
• Belonging as Infrastructure: What Families Teach Us About Building Inclusive Communities
• Likes, Labels, and the Self: What Reddit’s ADHD Community Teaches Us About Validation
• When Campus Noise Becomes More Than a Nuisance: What a 2,080-Student Study Says About Sound Sensitivity, Autistic Traits, Social Skills, and Gender
• A Clearer Window into Mentalizing: Validating a French Tool for Clinics and Everyday Life
• When Feelings Move Faster Than Plans: What ADHD Looks Like for Many Adult Women
• Teaching Compassion Online: What ACT Training Gave Bereavement Volunteers—and Why It Matters