• R01MH109562 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
• P41EB015896 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
• 1S10RR023043 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
• 1S10RR023401 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)

• Comfortable Interpersonal Distance (CID)
• Mental representations
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Others
• Self

• Humans
• Female
• Multiple Sclerosis/psychology
• Male
• Adult
• Self Concept
• Middle Aged
• Interpersonal Relations
• Psychological Distance
• Friends/psychology

• Interpersonal distance
• Peripersonal space
• Psychopathology
• Self-other boundary
• Social distance

• Humans
• Personal Space
• Mental Disorders/psychology
• Interpersonal Relations
• Psychological Distance

• espace vécu
• interpersonal distance
• peripersonal space
• personal space
• psychosis
• schizophrenia

• Interpersonal distance
• Negative symptoms
• Personal space
• Positive symptoms
• Psychosis
• Schizophrenia

• Humans
• Schizophrenia/physiopathology
• Psychological Distance
• Social Interaction
• Interpersonal Relations
• Schizophrenic Psychology

• 20-0185 APVV
• 1/0493/23 VEGA
• ITMS 26240220086 Comenius University Science Park supported by the Research and Development Operational Programme funded by the ERDF

• Adult
• Humans
• Emotions/physiology
• Anger
• Happiness
• Social Behavior
• Fear
• Facial Expression

• generalization
• healthy participants
• modulatory effect
• personal space
• social interaction

• National Natural Science Foundation of China

• default network
• negative symptoms
• parietal cortex
• personal space
• psychotic disorders
• social anhedonia

Personal space has been defined as “the area individuals maintain around themselves into which others cannot intrude without arousing discomfort”. However, the precise relationship between discomfort (or arousal) responses as a function of distance from an observer remains incompletely understood. Also the mechanisms involved in recognizing conspecifics and distinguishing them from other objects within personal space have not been identified. Accordingly, here we measured personal space preferences in response to real humans and human-like avatars (in virtual reality), using well-validated “stop distance” procedures. Based on threshold measurements of personal space, we examined within-subject variations in discomfort-related responses across multiple distances (spanning inside and outside each individual’s personal space boundary), as reflected by psychological (ratings) and physiological (skin conductance) responses to both humans and avatars. We found that the discomfort-by-distance functions for both humans and avatars were closely fit by a power law. These results suggest that the brain computation of visually-defined personal space begins with a ‘rough sketch’ stage, which generates responses to a broad range of human-like stimuli, in addition to humans. Analogous processing mechanisms may underlie other brain functions which respond similarly to both real and simulated human body parts.

There is undoubtedly growing interest in the role of scent in the design of multisensory experiences. However, to date, the majority of the research has focused on its use in the (static) built environment. As highlighted by this narrative review, somewhat different challenges and opportunities arise just as soon as one starts to consider olfaction in the case of transportation–what might be called “scent in motion.” For instance, levels of anxiety/stress while traveling are often higher (especially in the case of air travel), while, at the same time, the passenger's personal space is frequently compromised. Four key functional roles for scent in the context of passenger transportation are outlined. They include the masking of malodour, the introduction of branded signature scents, short-term olfactory marketing interventions, and the functional use of scent to enhance the experience of travel. In the latter case, one might consider the use of scent to help reduce the stress/anxiety amongst airplane passengers or to give the impression of cleanliness. Meanwhile, in the case of driving, scents have been suggested as an inoffensive means of alerting/relaxing the driver and may also help tackle the problem of motion sickness. The specific challenges associated with scent in motion are reviewed and a number of future opportunities highlighted.

• functional scents
• malodour
• scent
• scent marketing
• signature scents
• transport

• multisensory processing
• self-disturbance
• self–other distinction
• social distance

• Adult
• Body Image/psychology
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Personal Space
• Schizophrenic Psychology
• Virtual Reality

• Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Endowment
• Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Director’s Strategic

• human behaviour
• social behaviour

• Adaptation, Psychological
• Adolescent
• Adult
• Bayes Theorem
• COVID-19/epidemiology
• COVID-19/prevention & control
• COVID-19/psychology
• COVID-19/transmission
• Fear
• Female
• Follow-Up Studies
• Germany/epidemiology
• Humans
• Incidence
• Male
• Models, Psychological
• Pandemics/prevention & control
• Physical Distancing
• Social Isolation/psychology
• Social Stigma
• Surveys and Questionnaires/statistics & numerical data
• Time Factors
• Young Adult

• Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (1030)

• COVID-19
• anxiety
• interpersonal space
• risk perception
• social distancing

The peripersonal space is an adaptive and flexible interface between the body and the environment that fulfills a dual-motor function: preparing the body for voluntary object-oriented actions to interact with incentive stimuli and preparing the body for defensive responses when facing potentially harmful stimuli. In this position article, we provide arguments for the sensorimotor rooting of the peripersonal space representation and highlight the variables that contribute to its flexible and adaptive characteristics. We also demonstrate that peripersonal space represents a mediation zone between the body and the environment contributing to not only the control of goal-directed actions but also the organization of social life. The whole of the data presented and discussed led us to the proposal of a new theoretical framework linking the peripersonal action space and the interpersonal social space and we highlight how this theoretical framework can account for social behaviors in populations with socio-emotional deficits.

• clinical population
• emotion
• facial expression
• interpersonal distance
• peripersonal space
• social interaction
• threat

• Gender
• Interpersonal distance
• Space perception

Loneliness is thought to serve as an adaptive signal indicating the need to repair or replace salutary social connections. Accordingly, loneliness may influence preferences for interpersonal distance. If loneliness simply motivates a desire to socially reconnect, then loneliness may be associated with a preference for smaller interpersonal distances. According to the evolutionary model of loneliness, however, loneliness also signals an inadequacy of mutual aid and protection, augmenting self-preservation motives. If loneliness both increases the motivation to reconnect and increases the motivation for self-protection, then the resulting approach-avoidance conflict should produce a preference for larger interpersonal distance, at least within intimate (i.e., proximal) space. Here, we report two survey-based studies of participants’ preferences for interpersonal distance to distinguish between these competing hypotheses. In Study 1 (N = 175), loneliness predicted preferences for larger interpersonal distance within intimate space net gender, objective social isolation, anxiety, depressive symptomatology, and marital status. In Study 2 (N = 405), we replicated these results, and mediation analyses indicated that measures of social closeness could not adequately explain our findings. These studies provide compelling evidence that loneliness predicts preferences for larger interpersonal distance within intimate space, consistent with predictions from the evolutionary model of loneliness.

• Adult
• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Female
• Humans
• Interpersonal Relations
• Loneliness/psychology
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Models, Psychological
• Motivation

• National Institute on Aging

• body schema
• individual differences
• peripersonal space
• personal space
• spatial representation

Accurate control of interpersonal distances in social contexts is an important determinant of effective social interactions. Although comfortable interpersonal distance seems to be dependent on social factors such as the gender, age and activity of the confederates, it also seems to be modulated by the way we represent our peripersonal-action space. To test this hypothesis, the present study investigated the relation between the emotional responses registered through electrodermal activity (EDA) triggered by human-like point-light displays (PLDs) carrying different facial expressions (neutral, angry, happy) when located in the participants peripersonal or extrapersonal space, and the comfort distance with the same PLDs when approaching and crossing the participants fronto-parallel axis on the right or left side. The results show an increase of the phasic EDA for PLDs with angry facial expressions located in the peripersonal space (reachability judgment task), in comparison to the same PLDs located in the extrapersonal space, which was not observed for PLDs with neutral or happy facial expressions. The results also show an increase of the comfort distance for PLDs approaching the participants with an angry facial expression (interpersonal comfort distance judgment task), in comparison to PLDs with happy and neutral ones, which was related to the increase of the physiological response. Overall, the findings indicate that comfort social space can be predicted from the emotional reaction triggered by a confederate when located within the observer’s peripersonal space. This suggests that peripersonal-action space and interpersonal-social space are similarly sensitive to the emotional valence of the confederate, which could reflect a common adaptive mechanism in specifying theses spaces to subtend interactions with both the physical and social environment, but also to ensure body protection from potential threats.

• electrodermal activity
• facial expression
• interpersonal space
• peripersonal space
• physiological response

The distance individuals maintain between themselves and others can be defined as ‘interpersonal space’. This distance can be modulated both by situational factors and individual characteristics. Here we investigated the influence that the interpretation of other people interaction, in which one is not directly involved, may have on a person’s interpersonal space. In the current study we measured, for the first time, whether the size of interpersonal space changes after listening to other people conversations with neutral or aggressive content. The results showed that the interpersonal space expands after listening to a conversation with aggressive content relative to a conversation with a neutral content. This finding suggests that participants tend to distance themselves from an aggressive confrontation even if they are not involved in it. These results are in line with the view of the interpersonal space as a safety zone surrounding one’s body.

• Adult
• Aggression/physiology
• Auditory Perception/physiology
• Communication
• Female
• Humans
• Interpersonal Relations
• Male
• Personal Space
• Reaction Time/physiology
• Young Adult

• Action-specific perception
• Distance perception
• Tool use

• Attentive immobility
• Body sway
• Defensive cascade
• Freezing
• Gun violence
• Heart rate
• Heart rate variability
• Humans
• Immobility under attack
• Motor reaction
• PTSD
• Pictures
• Posture
• RDoC
• Stabilometry
• Threat
• Tonic immobility
• Trauma script

• empathy
• fMRI
• facial expressions
• interpersonal distance
• psychopathic traits

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Asian People/psychology
• Female
• Humans
• Interpersonal Relations
• Male
• Object Attachment
• Personal Space
• Personality Inventory/statistics & numerical data
• Psychological Distance
• Self Disclosure
• Students/psychology
• Students/statistics & numerical data

Maintaining an appropriate distance from others is important for establishing effective communication and good interpersonal relations. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder associated with social difficulties, and it is thus worth examining whether individuals with ASD maintain typical or atypical degrees of social distance. Any atypicality of social distancing may impact daily social interactions. We measured the preferred distances when individuals with ASD and typically developing (TD) individuals approached other people (a male experimenter) and objects (a coat rack with clothes) or when other people approached them. Individuals with ASD showed reduced interpersonal distances compared to TD individuals. The same tendency was found when participants judged their preferred distance from objects. In addition, when being approached by other people, both individuals with ASD and TD individuals maintained larger interpersonal distances when there was eye contact, compared to no eye contact. These results suggest that individuals with ASD have a relatively small personal space, and that this atypicality exists not only for persons but also for objects.

• Adolescent
• Autism Spectrum Disorder/diagnosis
• Autism Spectrum Disorder/psychology
• Case-Control Studies
• Female
• Humans
• Interpersonal Relations
• Male
• Personal Space
• Young Adult

• Delusion
• Grandiosity
• Interpersonal distance
• Paranoid threat

Schizophrenia is associated with subtle abnormalities in day-to-day social behaviors, including a tendency in some patients to “keep their distance” from others in physical space. The neural basis of this abnormality, and related changes in social functioning, is unknown. Here we examined, in schizophrenic patients and healthy control subjects, the functioning of a parietal–frontal network involved in monitoring the space immediately surrounding the body (“personal space”). Using fMRI, we found that one region of this network, the dorsal intraparietal sulcus (DIPS), was hyper-responsive in schizophrenic patients to face stimuli appearing to move towards the subjects, intruding into personal space. This hyper-responsivity was predicted both by the size of personal space (which was abnormally elevated in the schizophrenia group) and the severity of negative symptoms. In contrast, in a second study, the activity of two lower-level visual areas that send information to DIPS (the fusiform face area and middle temporal area) was normal in schizophrenia. Together, these findings suggest that changes in parietal–frontal networks that support the sensory-guided initiation of behavior, including actions occurring in the space surrounding the body, contribute to social dysfunction and negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

•

A parietal–frontal network in the primate brain monitors the space near the body.

• Faces
• Object processing
• Parietal cortex
• Personal space
• Premotor cortex
• Schizophrenia

• empathy
• interpersonal distance
• oxytocin
• social distance

• Adult
• Cues
• Empathy/drug effects
• Humans
• Interpersonal Relations
• Male
• Neuropsychological Tests
• Oxytocin/pharmacology
• Photic Stimulation
• Psychological Distance
• Social Perception
• Young Adult

• Amygdala
• Fear conditioning
• Peri-personal space
• Reward
• Skin conductance
• Startle

• Adult
• Arrhythmia, Sinus/physiopathology
• Awareness/physiology
• Electrocardiography
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Psychological Distance
• Sensation/physiology
• Young Adult

People appropriately adjust the distance between themselves and others during social interaction, and they may feel discomfort and move away when another person intrudes on their personal space. In the present study, we investigated personal space in children with persistent difficulties in the domain of social behavior, such as children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and in children with typical development (TD). The stop-distance paradigm was used to derive estimates of interpersonal distance, before and after a brief interaction with an unfamiliar adult confederate. The results showed that ASD children felt comfortable at a greater distance compared to TD children. Moreover, personal space shrunk after interaction with the confederate in TD children, but it failed to do so in ASD children. These findings reveal that autism deeply affects the regulation of personal space, influencing both its size and flexibility.