Neural Alterations in Interpersonal Distance (IPD) Cognition and Its Correlation with IPD Behavior: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background. Interpersonal distance (IPD) plays a critical role in a human being’s social life, especially during interpersonal interaction, and IPD is non-verbal social information and not only provides silent cues but also provides a secure space for personal relationships. IPD has been a research field of neural studies from the recent decade, researches had provided behavior and neural correlates of IPD. Objectives. This review aims to summarize the experimental paradigms of IPD-neural research, to reveal the neural activity processes associated with it, and to explore the correlation between IPD-neural activity and IPD-behavior. Methods. We conducted a standardized systematic review procedure, including the formal search method be adopted to seek out any type of studies related to IPD and brain, then devised them into categories to make a systematic review. Results. 17 articles met the inclusion criteria of the review, 5 event-related potential (ERP) studies measured the amplitude and latencies of ERPs, and 12 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies provided the neural activation during IPD tasks. In addition, the passive IPD experimental paradigm is the main experimental paradigm for exploring neural activity in IPD cognition, with the parietal lobe, motor areas, prefrontal lobe, and amygdala being the main brain areas involved. Functional connections between the identified brain regions were found and have a moderate correlation with IPD behavior. Conclusions. This review provides the neural activity of the IPD interaction process. However, the insufficient ecological validity of IPD tasks and ignore the initiative of people in IPD interaction. Therefore, there is a large research space on this topic. The work of the current systematic review contributed to linking the external performance and inner neural activities of IPD.

Interpersonal distance perception during the normalization of an pandemic situation: Effects of mask‐wearing and vaccination

“…The current study suggested that the participants maintained the largest IPD when they faced an unvaccinated confederate, while the closest distance was found when they faced a confederate who had received a booster shot. This result is consistent with the self‐defence nature of IPD (Huang & Izumi, 2021 ; Ruggiero et al, 2017 ). When they faced an unvaccinated confederate, the participants were concerned that the confederate was unsafe and at risk of carrying the virus, leading to quite a large social distance.…”

Interpersonal synchronization of spontaneously generated body movements

“…Furthermore, even though the effect of visual contact on IMS appeared to be stronger when participants were closer, we found no evidence of a significant interaction. Provided that a relationship between interpersonal spatial proximity and social behavior is to be expected given previous research, 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 we might not have observed it because of two possible reasons. Either the effect of interpersonal spatial proximity was mitigated by other changing variables that we did not measure such as, for instance, attentional focus (see e.g., 76 , 80 , 81 , 82 ), or we might conclude that such relationship does not necessarily manifest in terms of IMS.…”

Interpersonal Distance Theory of Autism and Its Implication for Cognitive Assessment, Therapy, and Daily Life

“…Functional brain-imaging studies revealed a different pattern of brain activity and connectivity in ASD and neurotypical individuals when measuring IPD (Massaccesi et al, 2021; Perry et al, 2015). In neurotypical people, activation of the dorsal intraparietal sulcus (DIPS), prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices, ventral premotor and somatosensory cortices, and amygdala may play a role in IPD regulation during computerized versions of the stop-distance paradigm (in which participants are instructed to stop or tell the experimenter to stop at a preferred distance) and comfortable IPD task (in which participants are instructed to indicate the most comfortable distance as someone approaches them from the perimeter of a circle; Huang & Izumi, 2021). In addition to neural activity, functional connectivity was measured.…”