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Embodied perception of reachable space: how do we manage threatening objects?

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Abstract

This study aimed at determining whether the size of reachable space is affected by the level of danger of some everyday manipulable objects. Two possibilities are examined: Dangerous objects affect the size of reachable space because of long-term semantic knowledge of their potential hurtful value or the on-line relation between objects’ dangerous attributes and the body. The experimental paradigm combined the danger value (dangerous/not dangerous) and the orientation of objects (e.g. pointing away from/towards the perceiver). Reachability judgments measured the size of peripersonal space, and perception of objects’ danger was estimated through questionnaires. Results revealed that, whatever the estimated level of objects’ danger, the extent of peripersonal space was reduced when the threatening part of dangerous objects was oriented towards participants, not when oriented away. This suggests that the characteristics of the here and now body-objects interaction are crucial in affecting the boundary of peripersonal space.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Lucie Barube for her help in collecting and analysing the data. The research was supported by grants from Charles de Gaulle-University Lille 3 and ANR CONTINT from French Ministry of Research.

Conflict of interest

This supplement was not sponsored by outside commercial interests. It was funded entirely by ECONA, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185 Roma, Italy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit on Cognitive and Affective Sciences, University of Lille Nord de France, Lille, France

    Yann Coello & Jeremy Bourgeois

  2. Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy

    Tina Iachini

  3. Cognitive and Affective Sciences Research Unit, University Charles de Gaulle–Lille3, B.P. 60149, 59653, Villeneuve d’Ascq Cedex, France

    Yann Coello

Authors
  1. Yann Coello
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  2. Jeremy Bourgeois
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  3. Tina Iachini
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Correspondence to Yann Coello.

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Coello, Y., Bourgeois, J. & Iachini, T. Embodied perception of reachable space: how do we manage threatening objects?. Cogn Process 13 (Suppl 1), 131–135 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0470-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0470-z

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