Comparison of peripersonal space in front and rear spaces.

The space immediately around the body, referred to as the peripersonal space (PPS), plays a crucial role in interactions with external objects and in avoiding unsafe situations. This study aimed to investigate whether the size of the PPS changes depending on direction, with a particular focus on the disparity between the front and rear spaces. A vibrotactile stimulus was presented to measure PPS while a task-irrelevant auditory stimulus (probe) approached the participant. In addition, to evaluate the effect of the probe, a baseline condition was used in which only tactile stimuli were presented. The results showed that the auditory facilitation effect of the tactile stimulus was greater in the rear condition than in the front condition. Conversely, the performance on tasks related to auditory distance perception and sound speed estimation did not differ between the two directions, indicating that the difference in the auditory facilitation effect between directions cannot be explained by these factors. These findings indicate that the strength of audio-tactile integration is greater in the rear space compared to the front space, suggesting that the representation of the PPS differed between the front and rear spaces.
(© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)