Intentional binding: unintentional artifact?

Intentional Binding (IB) is often used as an implicit measure of the sense of agency (SoA). Given the fundamental nature of the SoA, one would expect the presence of IB at the individual level. We compared aggregate vs. individual data in a pilot study as well as in a publicly available dataset. Aggregate results replicated the expected directionality for action and outcome binding for both studies. Crucially, inter-individual analyses across conditions revealed almost half of participants in the pilot study (N=15/35) and more than half of participants in the public dataset (N=11/20) had mean binding values for either action or outcome that were in the opposite of the expected direction. This is unexpected given the directionality of the perceived timing of events is critical to the IB effect. The misuse of averaging and the inconsistency of analyses in this domain will also be discussed along with implications for future research.