Their responses were specific to tactile stimulation on the face, the neck, the arm, or the hand as well as to visual stimuli located near these body segments ( Rizzolatti et al., 1981 Gentilucci et al., 1988 Graziano, 2017). These bimodal neurons, found in the parietal cortex, the premotor cortex, and the putamen, responded as if they were encoding sensory information within an egocentric frame of reference in relation to the motor system. (1981) discovered, from single-unit electrophysiological studies in macaque monkeys, a particular class of neurons that were responding to both somatosensorial and visual stimuli, but only when the latter were located in the PPS. In line with Brain’s seminal work, Rizzolatti et al. The “grasping” space, in which we can directly interact with the objects at hand, was later labeled peripersonal space (PPS hereafter) by Rizzolatti et al. The neurologist Brain (1941) reported the primary description of a functional representation of the visual space, dissociating a “grasping distance” and a “walking distance” from the study of brain-injured patients characterized by a selective impairment of information processing in one of the two spaces. This implies that the brain retains a functional representation of the visual space, although at an abstract level, which depends on previous events, actions and outcomes while interacting with the environment ( Grüsser, 1983 Previc, 1998). As stated by Clark (2001), “conscious visual experience presents the world to the subject in a richly textured way especially apt for, and typically utilized in, the control and guidance of fine-tuned, real-world activity” (pp. Since motor action is the only way for biological organisms to interact with the environment, the cognitive processes flexibly deployed to produce adaptive behavior must take into account not only the characteristics of the external world but also the state of the body and the potentialities offered by acquired motor experiences. Interacting efficiently with the environment requires anticipating at every moment what behavior can be performed depending on the context. The Functional Representation of The Physical Space The whole of the data presented and discussed led us to the proposal of a new theoretical framework linking the peripersonal action space and the interpersonal social space and we highlight how this theoretical framework can account for social behaviors in populations with socio-emotional deficits. We also demonstrate that peripersonal space represents a mediation zone between the body and the environment contributing to not only the control of goal-directed actions but also the organization of social life. In this position article, we provide arguments for the sensorimotor rooting of the peripersonal space representation and highlight the variables that contribute to its flexible and adaptive characteristics. The peripersonal space is an adaptive and flexible interface between the body and the environment that fulfills a dual-motor function: preparing the body for voluntary object-oriented actions to interact with incentive stimuli and preparing the body for defensive responses when facing potentially harmful stimuli. Lille, CNRS, Lille, UMR 9193-SCALab-Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, Lille, France
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