Open AccessReduced Personal Space in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Author(s) -
Kenichi Asada,
Yoshikuni Tojo,
Hiroo Osanai,
Atsuko Saito,
Toshikazu Hasegawa,
Shinichiro Kumagaya
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0146306
Subject(s) - autism spectrum disorder , social distance , interpersonal communication , psychology , personal space , eye contact , autism , interpersonal relationship , proxemics , developmental psychology , social psychology , medicine , covid-19 , communication , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Maintaining an appropriate distance from others is important for establishing effective communication and good interpersonal relations. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder associated with social difficulties, and it is thus worth examining whether individuals with ASD maintain typical or atypical degrees of social distance. Any atypicality of social distancing may impact daily social interactions. We measured the preferred distances when individuals with ASD and typically developing (TD) individuals approached other people (a male experimenter) and objects (a coat rack with clothes) or when other people approached them. Individuals with ASD showed reduced interpersonal distances compared to TD individuals. The same tendency was found when participants judged their preferred distance from objects. In addition, when being approached by other people, both individuals with ASD and TD individuals maintained larger interpersonal distances when there was eye contact, compared to no eye contact. These results suggest that individuals with ASD have a relatively small personal space, and that this atypicality exists not only for persons but also for objects.