@article{ref1,
title="Close interpersonal proximity modulates visuomotor processing of object affordances in shared, social space",
journal="Attention, perception and psychophysics",
year="2018",
author="Saccone, Elizabeth J. and Szpak, Ancret and Churches, Owen and Nicholls, Michael E. R.",
volume="80",
number="1",
pages="54-68",
abstract="Research suggests that the human brain codes manipulable objects as possibilities for action, or affordances, particularly objects close to the body. Near-body space is not only a zone for body-environment interaction but also is socially relevant, as we are driven to preserve our near-body, personal space from others. The current, novel study investigated how close proximity of a stranger modulates visuomotor processing of object affordances in shared, social space. Participants performed a behavioural object recognition task both alone and with a human confederate. All object images were in participants' reachable space but appeared relatively closer to the participant or the confederate. <br><br>RESULTS revealed when participants were alone, objects in both locations produced an affordance congruency effect but when the confederate was present, only objects nearer the participant elicited the effect. <br><br>FINDINGS suggest space is divided between strangers to preserve independent near-body space boundaries, and in turn this process influences motor coding for stimuli within that social space. To demonstrate that this visuomotor modulation represents a social phenomenon, rather than a general, attentional effect, two subsequent experiments employed nonhuman joint conditions. Neither a small, Japanese, waving cat statue (Experiment 2) nor a metronome (Experiment 3) modulated the affordance effect as in Experiment 1. These findings suggest a truly social explanation of the key interaction from Experiment 1. This study represents an important step toward understanding object affordance processing in real-world, social contexts and has implications broadly across fields of social action and cognition, and body space representation.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1943-3921",
doi="10.3758/s13414-017-1413-7",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13414-017-1413-7"
}