Bodily self and personal space

What is the role of having a body in our social experiences? To answer this question, in this line of research I revisit some key concepts in social psychology (e.g. self-other overlap, personal space, etc.) investigating the possible contribution of processes (i.e. multisensory integration) that lie at the basis of the sense of bodily self.

An example of this line of investigation is my research on the social effects of Interpersonal multisensory stimulations. Another example are the studies I conducted on personal space, namely the area near the body that is generally perceived as a spatial extension of the self.

The personal space was originally defined as an invisible zone around the body that people feel as if it were theirs, this concept has been operationalized as the visible distance between two or more people.

In my research, I directly tackle this gap between mental representation and physical space regulation relying on the concept and paradigms - developed in cognitive neuroscience - of peripersonal space to answer some key questions on its functions.

To know more about this line of research, contact mariapaola.paladino@unitn.it

Selected relevant publications:

Quintard, V., Jouffre, S., Paladino, M. P., & Bouquet, C. A. (2020). Getting closer: Synchronous interpersonal multisensory stimulation increases closeness and attraction toward an opposite-sex other in female participants. Consciousness and Cognition, 77, 102849

Pellencin, E., Paladino, M. P., Herbelin, B., & Serino, A. (2018). Social perception of others shapes one's own multisensory peripersonal space. Cortex, 104, 163-179

Mazzurega, M., Pavani, F., Paladino, M. P., & Schubert, T. W. (2011). Self-other bodily merging in the context of synchronous but arbitrary related multisensory inputs. Experimental Brain Research. 213, 213-21.

Paladino, M. P., Mazzurega, M., Pavani, F., & Schubert, T. (2010). Synchronous Multisensory Stimulation Blurs Self-Other Boundaries. Psychological Science, 21, 1202-1207