"Surrounded, detached": the relationship between defensive peripersonal space and personality

Monica Biggio; Andrea Escelsior; Martino Belvederi Murri; Alice Trabucco; Federico Delfante; Beatriz Pereira da Silva; Ambra Bisio; Gianluca Serafini; Marco Bove; Mario Amore

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1244364

"Surrounded, detached": the relationship between defensive peripersonal space and personality

Front Psychiatry. 2023 Oct 13:14:1244364. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1244364. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Monica Biggio¹, Andrea Escelsior^{2

3}, Martino Belvederi Murri⁴, Alice Trabucco^{2

3}, Federico Delfante², Beatriz Pereira da Silva³, Ambra Bisio¹, Gianluca Serafini^{2

3}, Marco Bove^{1

2}, Mario Amore^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Human Physiology and Centro Polifunzionale di Scienze Motorie, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
² IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genoa, Italy.
³ Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health (DINOGMI), Section of Psychiatry, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
⁴ Institute of Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.

Abstract

Introduction: Personality shapes the cognitive, affective, and behavioral interactions between individuals and the environment. Defensive peripersonal space (DPPS) is the projected interface between the body and the world with a protective function for the body. Previous studies suggest that DPPS displays inter-individual variability that is associated with psychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety. However, DPPS may share a link with personality traits.

Methods: Fifty-five healthy participants were assessed with the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5)-Adult to evaluate personality dimensions. Subjects underwent the Hand Blink Reflex (HBR) task that estimates the DPPS limits by assessing the modulation of blink intensity in response to the median nerve stimulation. Data of the HBR was analyzed with Bayesian multilevel models, while the relationship between DPPS and personality traits was explored using network analysis.

Results: HBR was best modeled using a piecewise linear regression model, with two distinct slope parameters for electromyographic data. Network analyzes showed a positive correlation between the proximal slope and detachment personality trait, suggesting that individuals with higher scores in the detachment trait had an increased modulation of HBR, resulting in a larger extension of the DPPS.

Discussion: Features of the detachment personality trait include avoidance of interpersonal experiences, restricted affectivity, and suspiciousness, which affect interpersonal functioning. We suggest that DPPS may represent a characteristic feature of maladaptive personality traits, thus constitute a biomarker or a target for rehabilitative interventions.

Keywords: Hand Blink Reflex; PID-5; embodied cognition; individual difference factors; network analysis.