Your Bubble Space and Your Brain

We all have it: bubble space. It's that distance we like to maintain between ourselves and those with whom we interact. When that invisible boundary is breached, we feel less at ease.

Cal Tech neuroscientists, through working with a patient with a very rare condition, have determined that the amygdala is front and center in determining the social distance at which we feel comfortable.

The amygdalae are a pair of almond-shaped and -sized structures on opposing sides within the temporal lobe. These structures are known to play a role in a variety of emotional and instinctual responses, including the "fight or flight" response.

As reported at Physorg.com, the new research represents the first solid evidence linking the amygdala to social interaction.

The patient, a 42-year-old woman, is afflicted with damage to both halves of her amygdala. What the Cal Tech neuroscientists discovered was that the patient's default comfort zone was about half the distance at which most people feel comfortable. Even more surprising to the research team was that they were unable to determine any distance at which the patient became uncomfortable.

Daniel P. Kennedy, postdoctoral scholar involved in the research, outlines the potential value of these findings to support new research initiatives in autism:

"We are really interested in looking at personal space in people with autism, especially given findings of amygdala dysfunction in autism. We know that some people with autism do have problems with personal space and have to be taught what it is and why it's important. It's clear that amygdala dysfunction cannot account for all the social impairments in autism, but likely contributes to some of them and is definitely something that needs to be studied further."

Photo courtesy of National Institutes of Health, via Wikimedia Commons