Background: Prior studies have found that individuals with schizophrenia often have an enlarged "personal space". However, the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying this consistent finding remain unknown.
Methods: The well-validated Stop Distance Procedure was used to measure the personal space preferences of individuals with psychotic disorders (PD, N = 22) and demographically-matched healthy controls (HC, N = 20) in response to human and virtual (avatar) intruders. Physiological arousal and subjective discomfort were measured during intrusions into personal space and modeled across different interpersonal distances. Additionally, participants were interviewed to assess their subjective awareness of their personal space preferences.
Results: Personal space measurements with humans and avatars were highly correlated and reliable over repeated trials, and influenced by the displayed emotion and gender of the intruders, in both groups. The PD group exhibited a larger personal space than the HC group (all p < 0.028), and the size of personal space with avatar intruders was significantly correlated with positive symptom severity in the PD subjects. Moreover, the magnitude of arousal responses to personal space intrusions was proportional to a power (exponent) of the distance between subjects and intruders, with a significantly smaller exponent in the PD (compared to the HC) for both human (p = 0.026) and avatar (p = 0.011) intruders, indicating a less steep function. Lastly, much of the participants' qualitative impressions of their personal space behaviors were consistent or correlated with the quantitative findings, reflecting some awareness of the determinants of personal space.
Conclusions: These findings reveal both intact and altered aspects of personal space regulation in psychotic disorders, and the potential utility of personal space measurements, given their high reliability, to serve as objective targets of interventions.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2024.09.004 | DOI Listing |
Heliyon
January 2025
Department of Environmental Sciences, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 44 Circle Drive SW 2145, PO Box 1099, Edwardsville, IL, USA, 62026.
The designated uses of lakes connect individuals to the natural environment, but some can expose recreational users to pathogens associated with fecal contamination that cause waterborne illnesses. Routine monitoring of fecal indicators in surface waters helps identify and track sources of fecal contamination to protect public health. We examined fecal indicators ( and enterococci) and factors influencing recreational freshwater quality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeliyon
January 2025
Guangzhou Xinhua University, School of Resources and Planning, Guangzhou, 510520, China.
Emergency shelters are multifunctional spaces that provide safe refuge, essential life protection, and rescue command for residents in case of urban disaster. These shelters constitute crucial components of urban public safety. This study, with Tianhe District in Guangzhou City as a case study, used data from emergency evacuation sites and other socio-economic sources to construct an evaluation system for spatial suitability evaluation and layout optimization of emergency shelters.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Pollut
January 2025
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic. Electronic address:
Tire wear microplastics (TWMs) are continuously generated during driving and are subsequently released into the environment, where they pose potential risks to aquatic organisms. In this study, the effects of untreated, hydrated, and environmentally aged TWMs on the growth, root development, photosynthesis, electron transport system (ETS) activity, and energy-rich molecules of duckweed Lemna minor were investigated. The results indicated that untreated and aged TWMs have the most pronounced negative effects on Lemna minor, as evidenced by reduced growth and impaired root development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Colloid Interface Sci
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology, 2# Linggong Road, Dalian 116024, China. Electronic address:
The utilization of structural colors in 3D printing was anticipated due to their eco-friendliness and sustainability. However, the manufacturing of homogeneous structural colors with intricate 3D architectures remains a great challenge, particularly in hydrogels. Herein, we added 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTalanta
January 2025
Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences & Chongqing School, University of Chinese Academy of Science, Chongqing, 400714, PR China. Electronic address:
Polymers and dendrimers are macromolecules, possessing unique and intriguing characteristics, that are widely applied in self-assembled functional materials, green catalysis, drug delivery and sensing devices. Traditional approaches for the structural characterization of polymers and dendrimers involve DLS, GPC, NMR, IR and TG, which provide their physiochemical features and ensemble information, whereas their unimolecular conformation and dispersion also are key features allowing to understand their transporting profile in confined ionic nanochannels. This work demonstrates the nanopore approach for the determination of charged homopolymers, neutral block copolymer and dendrimers under distinct bias potentials and pH conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!