Empathy as a predictor of peripersonal space: Evidence from the crossmodal congruency task.

• Relationship between the multisensory representation of peri -personal Space (PPS) and individual Empathy levels. • Higher Empathic Concern individuals have reduced visuo-tactile interactions within PPS. • They also show less segregation between PPS and extra-personal space (EPS). • These PPS features may facilitate the representation of others in a more extended interaction space. To investigate whether individual differences in Empathy predict the characteristics of Peripersonal Space (PPS) representations, we asked participants to complete the IRI questionnaire and a visuo-tactile crossmodal congruency task (CCT) as an index of PPS. In the CCT, they responded to the elevation of a tactile target while ignoring a visual distractor presented at the same (i.e. congruent) or different (i.e. incongruent) elevation. The target-distractor distance was also manipulated in depth, with visual distractors randomly presented at near, middle or far locations (0 cm, 25 cm or 50 cm). The near and middle crossmodal congruency effects (CCE) were inversely related to participants' scores on the Empathic Concern sub-scale (EC). Furthermore, the slope of participants' CCE across locations was related to EC scores, with flatter slopes for higher EC individuals. Thus, higher EC individuals showed reduced visuo-tactile integration responses within PPS and a reduced differentiation between PPS and extra-personal space (EPS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]