Department of Psychology, Kumamoto University, 2-40-1 Kurokami, Chuoku, Kumamoto, 860-8555, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2018 Apr 3;8(1):5432. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-23815-3.
Recent physiological studies have showed that some visuotactile brain areas respond to other's peripersonal spaces (PPS) as they would their own. This study investigates this PPS remapping phenomenon in terms of human behavior. Participants placed their left hands on a tabletop screen where visual stimuli were projected. A vibrotactile stimulator was attached to the tip of their index finger. While a white disk approached or receded from the hand in the participant's near or far space, the participant was instructed to quickly detect a target (vibrotactile stimulation, change in the moving disk's color or both). When performing this task alone, the participants exhibited shorter detection times when the disk approached the hand in their near space. In contrast, when performing the task with a partner across the table, the participants exhibited shorter detection times both when the disk approached their own hand in their near space and when it approached the partner's hand in the partner's near space but the participants' far space. This phenomenon was also observed when the body parts from which the visual stimuli approached/receded differed between the participant and partner. These results suggest that humans can share PPS representations and/or body-derived attention/arousal mechanisms with others.
最近的生理学研究表明，一些视触脑区会对他人的近体空间（PPS）做出反应，就像对自己的 PPS 做出反应一样。本研究从人类行为的角度探讨了这种 PPS 重映射现象。参与者将左手放在桌面屏幕上，视觉刺激投射在屏幕上。一个振动刺激器连接在食指的指尖上。当一个白色圆盘在参与者的近或远空间接近或远离手时，参与者被指示快速检测目标（振动刺激、移动圆盘颜色的变化或两者兼而有之）。当单独执行此任务时，当圆盘在近空间接近手时，参与者的检测时间更短。相比之下，当参与者与桌子对面的伙伴一起执行任务时，当圆盘在参与者的近空间接近参与者自己的手时，以及当圆盘在伙伴的近空间接近伙伴的手时，参与者的检测时间更短，但在参与者的远空间。当视觉刺激接近/远离的身体部位在参与者和伙伴之间不同时，也观察到了这种现象。这些结果表明，人类可以与他人共享 PPS 表示和/或源自身体的注意力/唤醒机制。
