Anger and the body-buffer zone

Auditory roughness elicits defense reactions

Auditory roughness elicits aversion, and higher activation in cerebral areas involved in threat processing, but its link with defensive behavior is unknown. Defensive behaviors are triggered by intrusions into the space immediately surrounding the body, called peripersonal space (PPS). Integrating multisensory information in PPS is crucial to assure the protection of the body. Here, we assessed the behavioral effects of roughness on auditory-tactile integration, which reflects the monitoring of this multisensory region of space. Healthy human participants had to detect as fast as possible a tactile stimulation delivered on their hand while an irrelevant sound was approaching them from the rear hemifield. The sound was either a simple harmonic sound or a rough sound, processed through binaural rendering so that the virtual sound source was looming towards participants. The rough sound speeded tactile reaction times at a farther distance from the body than the non-rough sound. This indicates that PPS, as estimated here via auditory-tactile integration, is sensitive to auditory roughness. Auditory roughness modifies the behavioral relevance of simple auditory events in relation to the body. Even without emotional or social contextual information, auditory roughness constitutes an innate threat cue that elicits defensive responses.

Personal space of incarcerated offenders

Administered the proxemic test (Kinzel, 1970) and a psychometric test battery to 49 incarcerated offenders on two occasions. Offenders also were rated by staff on their interpersonal behavior, and a 3-year follow-up was undertaken to assess recidivism. Immediate test-retest reliabilities were extremely high in all four directions (.93 to .97), but lower over a 10-week period (.65 to .89). The Behind distance was largest on both occasions. There were no changes in the four distance measures over time. An algebraic formula was devised to calculate Personal Space Area. Age was related inversely to offender's Personal Space (r = -.32, p less than .03). Personality measures, observation ratings, and follow-up outcome data were related inconsistently to Personal Space Area, although there was some indication that offenders with a large personal space were less empathic, less socialized, less accepting of others, received poor evaluations, and were more likely to recidivate. The utility of personal space in the assessment of offenders is discussed.

Hierarchical Grouping of Personal Space Zones

Personal space was measured along 8 dimensions of approach, using the body-boundary instructions of the Comfortable Interpersonal Distance Scale. There were 4 imaginary stimulus persons: same-sex friend, opposite-sex friend, same-sex stranger, and opposite-sex stranger. Mutually exclusive groups of subjects, maximally similar with respect to distances others were allowed to approach, were formed, using Ward's hierarchical grouping procedure. Subjects with larger zones in relation to strangers of the opposite sex were more emotionally stable and astute, while a curvilinear relation was found with expediency versus conscientiousness. For same-sex friend, subjects with larger zones scored higher on an intelligence factor. Demographically, number of siblings and density of house were significant factors.