Data from: Social coding of the multisensory space around us

Multisensory integration of stimuli occurring in the area surrounding our
bodies gives rise to the functional representation of peri-personal space
(PPS). PPS extent is flexible according to the affective context and the
target of an action, but little is known about how social context
modulates it. We used an audiotactile interaction task to investigate PPS
of individuals during social interaction. Participants had to detect as
fast as possible a tactile stimulus while task-irrelevant looming sounds
were presented, while they were paired as collaborative dyads and as
competitive dyads. We also measured PPS in participants seated near an
inactive individual. PPS boundaries were modulated only when participants
collaborated with a partner, in the form of an extension on the right
hemispace and independently of the location of the partner. This suggests
that space processing is modified during collaborative tasks. During
collective actions, a supra-individual representation of the space of
action could be at stake in order to adapt our individual motor control to
an interaction as a group with the external world. Reassessing
multisensory integration in the light of its potential social sensitivity
might reveal that low-level mechanisms are modified by the need to
interact with others.