Personal Space Tolerance in a Bidimensional (2D) Screen-Based Task, Adult Attachment, and Early Caregiving in Spain, Italy, and Japan

This study examines whether early caregiving practices (co-sleeping, co-bathing), attachment avoidance, and susceptibility to visual illusions predict tolerance for interpersonal distance in a 2D screen-based task across cultures. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 305 adults from Spain, Italy, and Japan, who completed a sociodemographic/clinical screening, the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (ECR), and three 2D screen-based tasks: Ebbinghaus size-comparison, Müller-Lyer size-comparison, and a personal-space judgment task. Japan reported the highest prevalence and longest duration of co-sleeping/co-bathing and the highest avoidance; Italy the lowest; Spain intermediate. In the 2D task, Japanese participants tolerated closer distances, whereas Spaniards and Italians preferred larger ones. Spaniards were more susceptible to the Müller-Lyer illusion, Italians to the Ebbinghaus illusion, and Japanese were less susceptible to both. Results initially suggested that caregiving and avoidance were related to personal-space tolerance directly and indirectly via susceptibility to visual illusions, but these associations largely disappeared after adjusting for cultural and demographic covariates. The results do not support the hypothesis that co-sleeping/co-bathing predicts lower avoidance; rather, they indicate that while the mere presence of such practices is not a reliable predictor of adult attachment, prolonged duration is modestly but significantly associated with higher avoidance. Overall, findings suggest that interpersonal distance regulation is shaped more by cultural norms than by early caregiving or attachment dispositions, and that perceptual processes intersect with social regulation in culturally patterned ways.