Longitudinal study of personal space in autism.

The size and regulation of personal space are reportedly atypical in autistic individuals. As personal space regulates social interaction, its developmental change is essential for understanding the nature of social difficulties that autistic individuals face. Adolescence is an important developmental period in which social relationships become complex. We conducted a three-year longitudinal study of interpersonal distances in autistic and typically developing (TD) individuals aged 12-18 years at Time 1 and 15-21 years at Time 2. Their preferred interpersonal distances were measured when an experimenter approached the participants with and without eye contact. The interpersonal distances of autistic individuals were shorter than those of TD individuals at both Time 1 and Time 2. Furthermore, the interpersonal distances of autistic individuals at Time 1 and Time 2 were highly correlated, but no such correlation was found in TD individuals. The results suggest that the interpersonal distances of autistic individuals are stable and that the shorter preferred interpersonal distances in autistic individuals compared to those of TD individuals are maintained during adolescence.

Interpersonal distance in schizophrenia: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Schizophrenia is often associated with severe difficulties in social functioning, resulting in increased isolation and subsequent loneliness. Interpersonal distance - the amount of space around an individual's body during social interaction - can signal such difficulties. However, little is known about how individuals with schizophrenia regulate their interpersonal distance during social encounters. Summarizing the current empirical findings of interpersonal distance regulation in schizophrenia can bring novel perspectives for understanding interpersonal difficulties observed in this clinical population. STUDY DESIGN: This systematic review examined empirical studies indexed in Web of Science and PubMed based on a-priori-defined criteria. 1164 studies were screened with the final review consisting of 14 studies. They together included 1145 adult participants, of whom 668 were diagnosed with schizophrenia or psychotic disorder. STUDY RESULTS: The studies clearly showed that patients maintain greater interpersonal distances than do controls. Furthermore, a larger distance was linked to more severe positive and negative symptoms. More specifically, the link to symptoms was more pronounced when patients were being approached by someone else during interactions. On a neurobiological level, the increased activity and functional connectivity of the dorsal inferior parietal sulcus and increased subjective state-dependent stress are further indicated as being potentially related to increase interpersonal distancing in schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS: We provided information about the aberrant modulation of interpersonal distance in schizophrenia. Studies showed substantial heterogeneity in tasks used to measure interpersonal distance. Future studies should look at links to social functioning, underlying neurobiology, and neuroendocrinal regulation of interpersonal space in schizophrenia.

Space for power: feeling powerful over others' behavior affects peri-personal space representation.

We investigated whether and how social power affects the representation of peri-personal space (PPS). We applied a multisensory interaction task to assess PPS representation and the Personal Sense of Power Scale to assess participants' feelings of power over others' behaviors and over others' opinions. In Study 1, we probed PPS representation in a virtual social context. Participants with a higher sense of power showed a less defined differentiation between the close and far space as compared to participants with a lower sense of power. This effect was replicated in Study 2 when participants performed the task in a non-social context (with no person in the scene), but only after they were reminded of an episode of power. Thus, social power-the perception of power over others' behavior-affects the multisensory representation of the self in space by blurring the differentiation between one's own PPS and the space of others.

Effects of appearance and gender on pre-touch proxemics in virtual reality.

Virtual reality (VR) environments are increasingly popular for various applications, and the appearance of virtual characters is a critical factor that influences user behaviors. In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of avatar and agent appearances on pre-touch proxemics in VR. To achieve this goal, we designed experiments utilizing three user avatars (man/woman/robot) and three virtual agents (man/woman/robot). Specifically, we measured the pre-touch reaction distances to the face and body, which are the distances at which a person starts to feel uncomfortable before being touched. We examined how these distances varied based on the appearances of avatars, agents, and user gender. Our results revealed that the appearance of avatars and agents significantly impacted pre-touch reaction distances. Specifically, those using a female avatar tended to maintain larger distances before their face and body to be touched, and people also preferred greater distances before being touched by a robot agent. Interestingly, we observed no effects of user gender on pre-touch reaction distances. These findings have implications for the design and implementation of VR systems, as they suggest that avatar and agent appearances play a significant role in shaping users' perceptions of pre-touch proxemics. Our study highlights the importance of considering these factors when creating immersive and socially acceptable VR experiences.

Generalization of the modulatory effect of social interaction on personal space.

Introduction: Personal space (PS) is a safe area around an individual's body that affects spatial distance when socially interacting with others. Previous studies have shown that social interaction may modulate PS. However, these findings are often confounded by the effects of familiarization. Furthermore, whether the potential regulatory effects of social interaction on PS can be generalized from interacting confederates to strangers remains unclear. Methods: To answer these questions, we enrolled 115 participants in a carefully designed experiment. Results: We found that prosocial interaction in the form of a cooperative task effectively reduced PS, and this regulatory effect could be generalized from interacting confederates to non-interacting confederates. Discussion: These findings deepen our understanding of PS regulation and may be aid in the diagnosis and rehabilitation of dysfunctional social behaviors.

Tool use moves the peri-personal space from the hand to the tip of the tool.

In this study, we used a visual target detection task to investigate three hypotheses about how the peri-personal space is extended after tool-use training: Addition, Extension, and Projection hypotheses. We compared the target detection performance before and after tool-use training. In both conditions, the participants held a hockey stick-like tool in their hands during the detection task. Furthermore, we added the no-tool-holding condition to the experimental design. In the no-tool-holding condition, a peri-hand space advantage in the visual target detection task was observed. When the participants held the tool with their hands, this peri-hand space advantage was lost. Furthermore, there was no peri-tool space advantage before tool training. After tool training, the peri-tool space advantage was observed. However, after tool training, the advantage of the peri-hand space was not observed. This result suggested that the peri-hand advantage was reduced by simply holding the tool because the participants lost the functionality of their hands. Furthermore, tool-use training improved detection performance only in the peri-tool space. Thus, these results supported the projection hypothesis that the peri-personal space advantage would move from the body to the functional part of the tool.

Differences in office-based personal space perception between British and Korean populations.

We sought to understand how the perception of personal space is influenced by different levels of social density, spatial density, and type of window-view in South Korean and United Kingdom workplaces. We employed virtual reality to simulate shared and single occupancy offices. We obtained personal space estimations using a virtual disc around the participant which could be extended and retracted, inside the simulation, to indicate perceived amount of personal space, and compared this measure to questionnaire-based estimations. We found that in both cultures participants experienced greater perceived personal space (1) when in a sparse rather than dense office and (2) having a view of the city outside the office. However, British, but not Korean, participants had significantly higher personal space estimations in single occupancy offices than in shared offices. These results suggest subtle cross-cultural differences in workplace experience, that could only be investigated using virtual reality.

Exploring the effects of COVID-19 on motorcycle riding patterns and its importance.

A motorcycle refers to a two-wheeled, personal mobility vehicle used for daily transportation and leisure activities. Leisure enables social interaction, and motorcycle riding could be an activity that facilitates social interactions and distancing. Therefore, grasping the importance of riding motorcycles during the pandemic-which involved social distancing and limited leisure activities-can be valuable. However, researchers have yet to examine its potential importance during the pandemic. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the importance of personal space and time spent with others in the context of motorcycle riding during the COVID-19 pandemic. We specifically explored the effects of COVID-19 on riding patterns and importance of riding motorcycle by examining whether these factors differed regarding changes in the frequency of motorcycle riding before and during the pandemic in daily and leisure-oriented transportation. Data were collected from 1,800 motorcycle users in Japan using a web-based survey conducted in November 2021. Respondents replied to questions concerning the importance of personal space and time spent with others attributed to motorcycle riding before and during the pandemic. Following the survey, we conducted a two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (two-factor ANOVA) and performed a simple main effect analysis using the SPSS syntax editor in case of interactions. The valid samples for motorcyclists with leisure motive (leisure-oriented users) and daily transportation motive (daily users) numbered n = 890 and n = 870, respectively (total n = 1,760, 95.5%). Each valid sample was divided into three groups based on the differences in motorcycle riding frequency before and during the pandemic: unchanged, increased frequency, and decreased frequency. The two-factor ANOVA results showed significant differences in the interaction effects for leisure-oriented and daily users regarding personal space and time spent with others. The mean value of the "increased frequency" group during the pandemic indicated significantly higher importance of personal space and time spent with others than the other groups. Motorcycle riding could enable daily transportation and leisure-oriented users to practice social distancing while simultaneously spending time with companions and alleviating loneliness and isolation during the pandemic.

Four Misconceptions About Nonverbal Communication.

Research and theory in nonverbal communication have made great advances toward understanding the patterns and functions of nonverbal behavior in social settings. Progress has been hindered, we argue, by presumptions about nonverbal behavior that follow from both received wisdom and faulty evidence. In this article, we document four persistent misconceptions about nonverbal communication-namely, that people communicate using decodable body language; that they have a stable personal space by which they regulate contact with others; that they express emotion using universal, evolved, iconic, categorical facial expressions; and that they can deceive and detect deception, using dependable telltale clues. We show how these misconceptions permeate research as well as the practices of popular behavior experts, with consequences that extend from intimate relationships to the boardroom and courtroom and even to the arena of international security. Notwithstanding these misconceptions, existing frameworks of nonverbal communication are being challenged by more comprehensive systems approaches and by virtual technologies that ambiguate the roles and identities of interactants and the contexts of interaction.

Opposing influences of global and local stimulus-hand proximity on crosstalk interference in dual tasks.

In contrast to traditional dualistic views of cognition, visual stimulus processing appears not independent of bodily factors such as hand positioning. For example, reduced crosstalk between two temporally overlapping tasks has been observed when the hands are moved into the attentional window alongside their respective stimuli (i.e., establishing global stimulus-hand proximity). This result indicates that hand-specific attentional processing enhancements support a more serial rather than parallel processing of the two tasks. To further elucidate the nature of these processing modulations and their effect on multitasking performance, the present study consisted of three interrelated crosstalk experiments. Experiment 1 manipulated global stimulus-hand proximity and stimulus-effect proximity orthogonally, with results demonstrating that hand proximity rather than effect proximity drives the crosstalk reduction. Experiment 2 manipulated the physical distance between both hands (i.e., varying local stimulus-hand proximity), with results showing weak evidence of increased crosstalk when both hands are close to each other. Experiment 3 tested opposing influences of global and local stimulus-hand proximity as observed in Experiment 1 and 2 rigorously within one experiment, by employing an orthogonal manipulation of these two proximity measures. Again, we observed slightly increased crosstalk for hands close to each other (replicating Experiment 2); however, in contrast to Experiment 1, the effect of global stimulus-hand proximity on the observed crosstalk was not significant this time. Taken together, the experiments support the notion of hand-specific modulations of perception-action coupling, which can either lead to more or less interference in multitasking, depending on the exact arrangement of hands and stimuli.

Social rather than physical crowding reduces the required interpersonal distance in virtual environments.

Interpersonal distance plays an important role in human social interaction. With the increasing usage of virtual reality in social interaction, people's interpersonal distance in virtual space attracts great attention. It remains unclear whether and to what extent human-required interpersonal distance is altered by crowded virtual scenes. In this study, we manipulated crowd density in virtual environments and used the classical stop-distance paradigm to measure required interpersonal distances at different crowd densities. We found that people's required interpersonal distance decreased with increased social crowdedness but not with physical crowdedness. Moreover, the decrease of two types of interpersonal distance was associated with the globally averaged crowd density rather than local crowd density. The reduction is not due to the imitation of other virtual humans in the crowd. Moreover, we developed a model to describe the quantitative relationships between the crowdedness of the environment and the required interpersonal distance. Our finding provides insights into designing user-friendly virtual humans in metaverse virtual worlds.

Personal space increases during the COVID-19 pandemic in response to real and virtual humans.

Personal space is the distance that people tend to maintain from others during daily life in a largely unconscious manner. For humans, personal space-related behaviors represent one form of non-verbal social communication, similar to facial expressions and eye contact. Given that the changes in social behavior and experiences that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, including "social distancing" and widespread social isolation, may have altered personal space preferences, we investigated this possibility in two independent samples. First, we compared the size of personal space measured before the onset of the pandemic to its size during the pandemic in separate groups of subjects. Personal space size was significantly larger in those assessed during (compared to those assessed before) the onset of the pandemic (all d > 0.613, all p < 0.007). In an additional cohort, we measured personal space size, and discomfort in response to intrusions into personal space, longitudinally before and during the pandemic, using both conventional and virtual reality-based techniques. Within these subjects, we found that measurements of personal space size with respect to real versus virtual humans were significantly correlated with one another (r = 0.625-0.958) and similar in magnitude. Moreover, the size of personal space, as well as levels of discomfort during personal space intrusions, increased significantly during (compared to before) the COVID-19 pandemic in response to both real and virtual humans (all d > 0.842, all p < 0.01). Lastly, we found that the practice of social distancing and perceived (but not actual) risk of being infected with COVID-19 were linked to this personal space enlargement during the pandemic (all p < 0.038). Taken together, these findings suggest that personal space boundaries expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic independent of actual infection risk level. As the day-to-day effects of the pandemic subside, personal space preferences may provide one index of recovery from the psychological effects of this crisis.

Interdigitated Columnar Representation of Personal Space and Visual Space in Human Parietal Cortex.

Personal space (PS) is the space around the body that people prefer to maintain between themselves and unfamiliar others. Intrusion into personal space evokes discomfort and an urge to move away. Physiologic studies in nonhuman primates suggest that defensive responses to intruding stimuli involve the parietal cortex. We hypothesized that the spatial encoding of interpersonal distance is initially transformed from purely sensory to more egocentric mapping within human parietal cortex. This hypothesis was tested using 7 Tesla (7T) fMRI at high spatial resolution (1.1 mm isotropic), in seven subjects (four females, three males). In response to visual stimuli presented at a range of virtual distances, we found two categories of distance encoding in two corresponding radially-extending columns of activity within parietal cortex. One set of columns (P columns) responded selectively to moving and stationary face images presented at virtual distances that were nearer (but not farther) than each subject's behaviorally-defined personal space boundary. In most P columns, BOLD response amplitudes increased monotonically and nonlinearly with increasing virtual face proximity. In the remaining P columns, BOLD responses decreased with increasing proximity. A second set of parietal columns (D columns) responded selectively to disparity-based distance cues (near or far) in random dot stimuli, similar to disparity-selective columns described previously in occipital cortex. Critically, in parietal cortex, P columns were topographically interdigitated (nonoverlapping) with D columns. These results suggest that visual spatial information is transformed from visual to body-centered (or person-centered) dimensions in multiple local sites within human parietal cortex.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Recent COVID-related social distancing practices highlight the need to better understand brain mechanisms which regulate "personal space" (PS), which is defined by the closest interpersonal distance that is comfortable for an individual. Using high spatial resolution brain imaging, we tested whether a map of external space is transformed from purely visual (3D-based) information to a more egocentric map (related to personal space) in human parietal cortex. We confirmed this transformation and further showed that it was mediated by two mutually segregated sets of columns: one which encoded interpersonal distance and another that encoded visual distance. These results suggest that the cortical transformation of sensory-centered to person-centered encoding of space near the body involves short-range communication across interdigitated columns within parietal cortex.

Effect of exercise intervention on social distance in middle-aged and elderly patients with chronic low back pain.

Background: Increased social distance is one of the manifestations of social impairment. Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is one of factors associated with increased social distance and social withdrawal. Exercise therapy is an effective means to social impairment. However, whether exercise could reduce social distance in patients with CLBP remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effect of exercise on social distance in middle-aged and elderly patients with CLBP. Methods: The longitudinal intervention recruited 29 middle-aged and elderly patients with CLBP from various communities in Yangpu District, Shanghai, China. The participants received exercise intervention for 8 weeks. The assessments were conducted before and after the intervention, including social distance, pain intensity, unpleasantness of pain, Roland-Morris Questionnaire (RMDQ), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). Intention to treat analysis was performed. Results: After the 8-week exercise intervention, the social distance of patients with CLBP was shorter than that before intervention and showed significant difference (p < 0.05). The scores of pain intensity, unpleasantness of pain, RMDQ, SAS, and SDS also decreased and were significantly different between pre- and post-intervention (p < 0.05). In addition, the social distance, pain intensity, unpleasantness of pain, RMDQ, SAS, and SDS scores of the moderate CLBP group decreased more after the intervention compared with those of the mild CLBP group. Conclusion: The 8-week exercise intervention cannot only shorten the social distance in middle-aged and elderly patients with CLBP but also relieve pain, disability, and negative emotions.

Conscious engagement within patients' and simulated participants' personal space: medical students' perspective.

BACKGROUND: #MeToo prompted a shift in acceptable societal norms, sparking global recognition of the complexities of entering another's personal space. Physical examinations are an integral part of medicine yet have the capacity to encroach upon patient's personal space, whether in simulated or clinical environments. Examinations may be misconstrued as inappropriate advances, with negative effects for both patient and doctor. Medical educators must consider how they teach students to approach this complex task. This study aimed to gain insight into the lived experiences of medical students when working within patient's personal space. This builds on previous research from the perspective of simulated participants. METHOD: A hermeneutic phenomenology approach was used to explore lived experiences of working within patient's personal space. Data was collected from seven medical students through semi-structured interviews and thematically analysed using template analysis. RESULTS: The analysis yielded four main themes: (1) transitioning into a privileged position; (2) negative role modelling: emphasising the physical; (3) consent: a dynamic and fragile state; and (4) a simple act or a complex performance? DISCUSSION: This study provides a unique insight into the lived experiences of medical students when working within a patient's personal space. The physical examination is a complex process; the experiences of medical students can shape learning on crossing boundaries. Medical educators need to reflect this complexity in teaching, mirroring societal interest around the boundaries of consent. Students need a pedagogical space to develop these interpersonal skills, to prevent early adoption of the clinical gaze, and to create more consciously engaged doctors for the future.

Don't get too close to me: depressed and non-depressed survivors of child maltreatment prefer larger comfortable interpersonal distances towards strangers.

Background: Childhood maltreatment (CM) is frequently linked to interpersonal problems such as difficulties in social relationships, loneliness, and isolation. These difficulties might partly stem from troubles regulating comfortable interpersonal distance (CIPD). Objective: We experimentally investigated whether CM manifests in larger CIPD and whether all subtypes of CM (i.e., physical, emotional, or sexual abuse and physical or emotional neglect) affect CIPD. Methods: Using the stop-distance method (i.e. a team member approached participants until the latter indicated discomfort), we assessed CIPD in 84 adults with a self-reported history of CM (24 with depressive symptoms) and 57 adult controls without a history of CM (without depressive symptoms). Results: Adults with CM showed a larger CIPD (Mdn = 86 cm) than controls (Mdn = 68 cm), and CIPD was largest for those with CM combined with current depressive symptoms (Mdn = 145 cm) (p's < .047). In the latter group, all subtypes of CM were associated with a larger CIPD compared to controls (p's < .045). In the CM group without depressive symptoms, only those with emotional abuse (p = .040) showed a larger CIPD than controls. Conclusions: These results add to findings of differential socio-emotional long-term consequences of CM, depending upon the subtype of CM. Future research should explore whether a larger CIPD has a negative impact on social functioning in individuals exposed to CM, particularly in those with depressive symptoms. HIGHLIGHTS: Adults with child maltreatment (CM) prefer larger physical distances.• This effect is more pronounced in those with CM and depressive symptoms.• Troubled regulation of physical distance might contribute to interpersonal problems.

The effect of robot speed on comfortable passing distances.

Robots navigate ever more often in close proximity to people. In the current work, we focused on two distinctive navigational scenarios: passing and overtaking a person who is walking. In the first experiment, we compared nine different passing distances for a humanoid robot and found that human comfort increased with passing distance and that their relationship could be described by an inverted Gaussian. In the second experiment, we validated this relationship for an industrial autonomous robot and extended the study to also include overtaking distances and different robot moving speeds. The results showed that overtaking was considered to be less comfortable than passing but that the overtaking distance had a similar relationship with human comfort. Human comfort decreases with a higher robot movement speed. Results obtained through location trackers furthermore showed that people actively take a larger distance from the robot when it starts its trajectory closer to them. The current results can be used to quantify human comfort in environments where humans and robots co-exist and they can be used as input for human-aware navigational models for autonomous robots.

Neural Correlates of Variation in Personal Space and Social Functioning in Schizophrenia and Healthy Individuals.

BACKGROUND: Changes in the regulation of interpersonal distance, or "personal space" (PS), have been repeatedly observed in schizophrenia and, in some studies, linked to negative symptoms. However, the neurobiological basis of these impairments is poorly understood. METHODS: Personal space measurements, functional connectivity of a brain network sensitive to intrusions into PS, and symptoms of social withdrawal and anhedonia were assessed, and associations among these outcomes measured, in 33 individuals with a psychotic disorder (primarily schizophrenia [SCZ]) and 36 control subjects (CON). RESULTS: Personal space size was significantly higher (P = .002) and PS permeability (reflecting the capacity to tolerate intrusions into PS) was significantly lower (P = .021) in the SCZ relative to the CON group, and both measures were significantly correlated with social anhedonia and withdrawal in the full sample (all P < .007). Moreover, functional connectivity between the PS and default mode (DM) networks was significantly correlated with the permeability, but not the size, of PS in the full sample and in the SCZ and CON groups separately, and with social withdrawal in the SCZ group. Lastly, the association between PS-DM network connectivity and social withdrawal in the SCZ group was fully mediated by PS permeability. DISCUSSION: Neural and behavioral aspects of PS regulation are linked to social motivation in both healthy individuals and those with psychotic disorders, suggesting that measurements of PS could serve as transdiagnostic markers of social functioning.

A neuroimaging study of interpersonal distance in identical and fraternal twins.

Keeping appropriate interpersonal distance is an evolutionary conserved behavior that can be adapted based on learning. Detailed knowledge on how interpersonal space is represented in the brain and whether such representation is genetically influenced is lacking. We measured brain function using functional magnetic resonance imaging in 294 twins (71 monozygotic, 76 dizygotic pairs) performing a distance task where neural responses to human figures were compared to cylindrical blocks. Proximal viewing distance of human figures was compared to cylinders facilitated responses in the occipital face area (OFA) and the superficial part of the amygdala, which is consistent with these areas playing a role in monitoring interpersonal distance. Using the classic twin method, we observed a genetic influence on interpersonal distance related activation in the OFA, but not in the amygdala. Results suggest that genetic factors may influence interpersonal distance monitoring via the OFA whereas the amygdala may play a role in experience-dependent adjustments of interpersonal distance.

Privacy and housing: research perspectives based on a systematic literature review.

Grounded in psychological and social constructs, the need for privacy is reflected in human socio-spatial behaviour and in our own home. To discuss housing privacy, this article presents a systematic literature review (SLR) that identified theoretical and methodological aspects relevant to the topic. The research was based on consolidated protocols to identify, select and evaluate articles published between 2000 and 2021 in three databases (Web of Science, Google Scholar and Scielo), with 71 eligible articles identified for synthesis. The results showed a concentration of studies in the American, European and Islamic context, and the increase in this production since 2018. This was guided by the inadequacy of architectural and urban planning projects, by new forms of social interaction and, recently, by the COVID-19 pandemic. From a theoretical point of view, the SLR demonstrated the importance of investigating privacy in housing from a comprehensive perspective, observing its different dimensions (physical, social and psychological) and characterizing the issues involved and the context under analysis. Methodologically, the main instruments identified were: (i) to behavioural analysis, questionnaires, interviews and observations; (ii) to built environment evaluation, in addition to the previous ones, space syntax analysis, architectural design and photographs analysis; (iii) for the general characterization of users, the data collection regarding the socio-demographic and cultural context and the meanings attributed to spatial organizations; (iv) to characterize the participants of the investigations, the analysis of personality traits, the ways to personalize the space, user satisfaction/preferences and the influence of social interactions on these perceptions.