The physiological correlates of interpersonal space

Michela Candini,Mariagrazia Benassi,Francesca Frassinetti,Giuseppe Di Pellegrino,Simone Battaglia

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-82223-2

Michela Candini, Mariagrazia Benassi + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82223-2

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Abstract

Interpersonal space (IPS) is the area around the body that individuals maintain between themselves and others during social interactions. When others violate our IPS, feeling of discomfort rise up, urging us to move farther away and reinstate an appropriate interpersonal distance. Previous studies showed that when individuals are exposed to closeness of an unknown person (a confederate), the skin conductance response (SCR) increases. However, if the SCR is modulated according to participant’s preferred IPS is still an open question. To test this hypothesis, we recorded the SCR in healthy participants when a confederate stood in front of them at various distances simulating either an approach or withdrawal movement (Experiment 1). Then, the comfort-distance task was adopted to measure IPS: participants stop the confederate, who moved either toward or away from them, when they felt comfortable with other’s proximity (Experiment 2). We found higher SCR when the confederate stood closer to participants simulating an IPS intrusion, compared to when the confederate moved farther away. Crucially, we provide the first evidence that SCR, acting as a warning signal, contributes to interpersonal distance preference suggesting a functional link between behavioral components of IPS regulation and the underlying physiological processes.

Highlights

Interpersonal space (IPS) is the area around the body that individuals maintain between themselves and others during social interactions
The participants’ Gender, Spatial position and Movement variables were entered as fixed effects
The analysis revealed a significant effect of Movement [F(1,225) = 32.224; p = 0.0001] on skin conductance response (SCR): higher SCR was found when the confederate moved toward the participant compared to when the confederate moved farther away

Summary

Introduction

Interpersonal space (IPS) is the area around the body that individuals maintain between themselves and others during social interactions. When other individuals infringe on our IPS, feelings of discomfort and even fear may rise up[2,3], urging us to move farther away and promptly reinstate a safety and appropriate interpersonal distance[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11] In this respect, a key issue concerns the potential mechanisms subtending IPS regulation. Given the pivotal role played by the amygdala in social approach and avoidance behaviours, both in primates and h umans[17,18,19,20,21], it is possible to argue that this brain region is necessary for eliciting emotional responses to proximal social stimuli, and regulating a safety IPS boundary between self and others Threatening situations, such as others’ proximity, triggers a number of physiological reactions which are considered indicators of the level of arousal and distress. None of the previous studies combined physiological responses to social proximity with a subjective measure of IPS estimated in an ecological task, i.e. the space that we prefer to maintain from others

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