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Situatedness and Place pp 67–79Cite as

Situating Interaction in Peripersonal and Extrapersonal Space: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives

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Part of the book series: Contributions To Phenomenology ((CTPH,volume 95))

Abstract

In this chapter I focus on the relationship between embodied intersubjective interactions and the kind of spaces that shape and are shaped by such interactions. After clarifying some of the theoretical background involved in questions about social cognition, I review several empirical studies that suggest that social interactions and social relations can change our perceptions of the reachable (peripersonal) space around us, as well as the more distant (extrapersonal) space beyond our immediate reach. These perceptions operate within the framework of material culture and impact our experience of space as it is organized by cultural artifacts and practices. In this respect, the analysis provided by Material Engagement Theory (Malafouris L, How things shape the mind. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2013) helps us understand the role of material arrangements as they define affordances for action and interaction, correlated to transformations from individual body-schematic processes to intercorporeal processes in joint action. These same processes can be carried over into discussions of space and place as experienced on the larger stages of social-cultural activities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Soliman and Glenberg (2014) used a complicated technique called the ‘flash/buzz’ paradigm (Maravita et al. 2002) to indirectly measure to what degree peripersonal space is expanded. A buzzer is attached to the index finger and another attached to the thumb. One of the buzzers is activated, and the task is to indicate (using a foot pedal) whether the thumb or index finger had been stimulated. Two LED lights are located next to the 2 fingers, respectively. LEDs flash in temporal synchrony with the buzzer but spatially incongruously (e.g. the thumb is stimulated by the buzzer but the LED next to the index finger is flashed). In these incongruous trials, reaction times are slowed in reporting which finger is buzzed, and participants make errors. Maravita et al. (2002) show that tool use can modify the interference on the incongruous trials. Before using a tool, the LEDs interfere with localization of the vibration only when they are near the fingers, that is, in peripersonal space. After using a tool (e.g., a rake), the LEDs can be located at the end of the tool, outside of the usual peripersonal space, and still interfere with localization of the active buzzer. This is taken as a measure of how much the body schema has incorporated the tool (or how much peripersonal space has expanded).

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Acknowledgements

I presented an earlier version of this paper as a keynote lecture at the ICSC 2015: 6th International Conference on Spatial Cognition. Rome 7–11 September 2015. My research for this project has been supported by the Humboldt Foundation’s Anneliese Maier Research Award, and as a Senior Visiting Researcher at Keble College, Oxford in 2016.

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  1. Philosophy, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA

    Shaun Gallagher

  2. Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Shaun Gallagher

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Correspondence to Shaun Gallagher .

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  1. Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Thomas Hünefeldt

  2. Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany

    Annika Schlitte

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Gallagher, S. (2018). Situating Interaction in Peripersonal and Extrapersonal Space: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives. In: Hünefeldt, T., Schlitte, A. (eds) Situatedness and Place. Contributions To Phenomenology, vol 95. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92937-8_5

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