Peripersonal space (PPS)

Abstract

The experience of our embodied self is not limited to the physical constraints of our body, but it extends into the space where the body interacts with the environment, i.e. peripersonal space (PPS). PPS is represented via the integration of multisensory-motor signals related to the body and to external stimuli in space. Normally, the boundaries of PPS coincide with the limits where our physical body can potentially interact with external objects. However, PPS boundaries shape as a function of experiences, such as acting upon further locations of space via tool-use or technology, or social interactions with other people. Multisensory bodily illusions (such as the rubber hand, the enfacement or the full body illusion) introducing spatio-temporal conflicts in the processing of multisensory bodily cues to study and manipulate bodily experience and self-consciousness, are probably induced via the PPS system and in turn affect PPS representation. This chapter will review insights from neurophysiology, psychophysics, neuropsychology, neuroimaging and neural network models to propose a general framework of the neural mechanisms of PPS, its plasticity and its role in bodily awareness.