The DOI matches its Crossref record; 30 of the 31 references it cites were found in a registry or an index, and 1 are not checked yet.
Better Safe Than Sorry? The Safety Margin Surrounding the Body Is Increased by Anxiety
Open accessAbstract
The defensive peripersonal space represents a "safety margin" advantageous for survival. Its spatial extension and the possible relationship with personality traits have never been investigated. Here, in a population of 15 healthy human participants, we show that the defensive peripersonal space has a sharp boundary, located between 20 and 40 cm from the face, and that within such space there is a thin, "highest-risk area" closest to the face (i.e., an "ultra-near" defensive space). Single-subject analysis revealed clear interindividual differences in the extension of such peripersonal space. These differences are positively related to individual variability in trait anxiety. These findings point to the potential for measuring a range of defensive behaviors in relation to individual levels of anxiety. Such measures will allow developing procedures to test risk assessment abilities, particularly in professions that require reacting quickly to aversive stimuli near the body, such as firemen, policemen, and military officers. This may also lead to possible interventions to improve their performance under pressure.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Both depend on the subjects' personality traits, for example anxiety level”
From The Peripersonal Space in a social world (2021) · cites this paper as Sambo & Iannetti, 2013
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“In addition, accumulating evidence suggest that personality traits (anxiety, claustrophobia) also contribute defining one's own PPS representation and personality traits are highly related to our inner state and responses to stressful situations (Iachini, Ruggiero, et al., 2015;Lourenco, Longo, & Pathman, 2011;Sambo & Iannetti, 2013) see also (Lebert, Chaby, Garnot, & Vergilino-Perez, 2020).”
From The Peripersonal Space in a social world (2021) · cites this paper as Sambo & Iannetti, 2013
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“emotional states, such as anxiety, or trait psychological factors, such as personality traits, can influence the boundaries of PPS representation (Sambo and Iannetti 2013a; Fossataro et al. 2016; Hunley et al. 2017; Spaccasassi and Maravita 2020; Ellena et al. 2022)”
From Neuroanatomical correlates of peripersonal space: bridging the gap between perception, action, emotion and social cognition (2024) · cites this paper as Sambo and Iannetti 2013a
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“evidence of expanded PPS in individuals with trait anxiety (Sambo and Iannetti 2013b)”
From Neuroanatomical correlates of peripersonal space: bridging the gap between perception, action, emotion and social cognition (2024) · cites this paper as Sambo and Iannetti 2013b
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
(1970) · Cited by 24,983
A two-dimensional neuropsychology of defense: fear/anxiety and defensive distance
McNaughton, N., & Corr, P. J. (2004) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2004.03.005 · Cited by 1,308
Contrast Analysis: Focused Comparisons in the Analysis of Variance.
Levin, J. R., Rosenthal, R., & Rosnow, R. L. (1987) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.2307/2289419 · Cited by 1,252
Ventral intraparietal area of the macaque: Anatomic location and visual response properties
Colby, C. L., Duhamel, J. R., & Goldberg, M. E. (1993) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.1993.69.3.902 · Cited by 701
Coding of peripersonal space in inferior premotor cortex (area F4).
Fogassi, L., Gallese, V., Fadiga, L., Luppino, G., Matelli, M., & Rizzolatti, G. (1996) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.1996.76.1.141 · Cited by 688 · cited 2×
“Accordingly, higher-level cortical areas involved in representing the peripersonal space (Fogassi et al., 1996; Macaluso and Maravita, 2010; Legrain, 2011) and in detecting potentially dangerous stimuli near the body (Cooke and Graziano, 2003; Lloyd et al.”
BackgroundParieto-frontal interactions, personal space, and defensive behavior
Graziano, M. S. A., & Cooke, D. F. (2006) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005.09.011 · Cited by 653
Parieto-frontal interactions, personal space, and defensive behavior
Graziano, M. S. A., & Cooke, D. F. (2006) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005.09.009 · Cited by 509
Lloyd, D. M. (2007) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2006.09.013 · Cited by 440
Across-trial averaging of event-related EEG responses and beyond
Mouraux, A., & Iannetti, G. D. (2008) · Magnetic Resonance Imaging · doi:10.1016/j.mri.2008.01.011 · Cited by 437
Self-citationRisk assessment as an evolved threat detection and analysis process
Blanchard, D. C., Griebel, G., Pobbe, R. L. H., & Blanchard, R. J. (2010) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.10.016 · Cited by 419
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Serino, A. (2019) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.01.016 · Cited by 304
de Vignemont, F., & Iannetti, G. D. (2015) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.11.018 · Cited by 238
Self-citationAn action field theory of peripersonal space
Bufacchi, R. J., & Iannetti, G. D. (2018) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2018.09.004 · Cited by 221
Self-citationBody part-centered and full body-centered peripersonal space representations
Serino, A., Noel, J., Galli, G., Canzoneri, E., Marmaroli, P., Hervé Lissek, A., & Blanke, O. (2015) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep18603 · Cited by 232
Peripersonal space as the space of the bodily self
Noel, J.-P., Pfeiffer, C., Blanke, O., & Serino, A. (2015) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2015.07.012 · Cited by 171
Metadata
- Authors
- Sambo, C. F., & Iannetti, G. D.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- ORCID
- Iannetti, G. D.
- Venue
- Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2013-08-28
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 35
- Pages
- 14225-14230
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC6618504
- OpenAlex
- W2043486810
- Cited by
- 195
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 7.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Keywords
- safety margin, trait anxiety, individual differences, risk assessment, occupational safety, defensive behavior
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Female, Humans, Male, Personal Space, Reaction Time
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
