Claustrophobia close up: how personal space is linked to fear
Claustrophobia close up: how personal space is linked to fear
People with a larger sense of personal space report heightened claustrophobic fear, according to new research carried out by researchers from Birkbeck, University of London and Emory University, Atlanta. The discovery could lead to new treatment strategies for clinical claustrophobia.
Co-author of the study, Dr Matthew Longo from Birkbeck's Department of Psychological Sciences, commented: "We all move around in a protective bubble commonly known as personal space, but not everyone's bubble is the same size. This sense of personal space may help keep us safe from potential dangers, but if your brain over-projects it, you are more likely to feel claustrophobic fear."
Previous studies have shown that the brain represents our immediate personal space, (also known as perispersonal space or near space), differently to the space further away. Neurologically healthy adults who are asked to mark the middle of a horizontal line show a slight leftward bias (known as pseudoneglect) in near space, while at further distances this bias shifts rightwards. Existing research suggests that this happens because the right hemisphere of the brain, which directs our attention to the left, is more active when perceiving objects close to the body.
Building on this knowledge, the researchers tested people's near space perception by measuring their ability to pinpoint the middle of a horizontal line with a laser pointer, while standing various distances away from the wall on which it was marked. By measuring how quickly a participant's natural leftward bias moved to the right, the researchers were able to calculate the point at which the participant felt the wall had moved from their near space to 'far space'. The more quickly this bias shifted, the smaller their near space.
Participants in the experiment were then asked to complete the Claustrophobia Questionnaire, which is used in the diagnosis of clinical claustrophobia. A comparison of the results showed, for the first time, that people who record greater anxiety of enclosed spaces also represent their near space as being larger than people who are less anxious.
"We've found that people who are higher in claustrophobic fear also have bigger near spaces. They, basically, appear to have an exaggerated sense of near space, which may translate to perceiving things as too close to them," said Emory psychologist Stella Lourenco, who led the research. "At this point, we don't know whether it's the distortion in spatial perception that leads to the fear, or vice versa. Both possibilities are likely and it will be up to future research to shed insight on the causal direction."
The current research raises the possibility of investigation into potential new treatment strategies for clinical claustrophobia by intervening to change the size of near space, which has been found in previous studies to flexibly expand and contract. The results suggest that changes to near space could alleviate claustrophobic fear.
Dr Longo continues: "As many as four percent of people may experience severe claustrophobia, with many more experiencing slight symptoms. Increasing our understanding of the factors that contribute to claustrophobia may help clinicians develop more effective therapies for what can be a highly debilitating condition."
The research, entitled Near Space and its Relation to Claustrophobic Fear, was led by Dr Stella Lourenco from Emory University in Atlanta and co-authored by Dr Matthew Longo (Birkbeck) and Ms Thanujeni Pathman (Emory). It is published in the June 2011 issue (Volume 119, issue 3) of Cognition, the international journal for cognitive science.