title: Body space in social interactions: a comparison of reaching and comfort distance in immersive virtual reality.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Do peripersonal space for acting on objects and interpersonal space for interacting with con-specifics share common mechanisms and reflect the social valence of stimuli? To answer this question, we investigated whether these spaces refer to a similar or different physical distance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants provided reachability-distance (for potential action) and comfort-distance (for social processing) judgments towards human and non-human virtual stimuli while standing still (passive) or walking toward stimuli (active).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Comfort-distance was larger than other conditions when participants were passive, but reachability and comfort distances were similar when participants were active. Both spaces were modulated by the social valence of stimuli (reduction with virtual females vs males, expansion with cylinder vs robot) and the gender of participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings reveal that peripersonal reaching and interpersonal comfort spaces share a common motor nature and are sensitive, at different degrees, to social modulation. Therefore, social processing seems embodied and grounded in the body acting in space.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Laboratory of Cognitive Science and Immersive Virtual Reality, Second University of Naples, Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iachini
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Research Unit on Cognitive and Affective Sciences, University of Lille, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Yann
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Coello
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Frassinetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Laboratory of Cognitive Science and Immersive Virtual Reality, Second University of Naples, Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Gennaro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ruggiero
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D010550:Personal Space; D012737:Sex Factors; D014584:User-Computer Interface