Cognitive Proxemics: An Extension of Proxemic Theory via Internal Mental Representations

Abstract

Proxemics is a core dimension of nonverbal behaviour, capturing how humans use physical space during interpersonal interactions. However, despite recent advances in cognitive neuroscience, the underlying cognitive processes that shape these nonverbal behaviours remain underrepresented in the nonverbal behaviour literature. This article introduces the conceptual construct of Cognitive Proxemics, which integrates research on how mental representations influence psychophysiological arousal and, in turn, guide the regulation of external interpersonal space. Drawing on findings from spatial cognition, peripersonal space research, and mental imagery studies, the article illustrates how incorporating these cognitive antecedent processes into proxemic theory broadens and deepens our understanding of nonverbal behaviour. By providing a conceptual label for the dynamic interplay between internal representational states and observable spatial behaviour, Cognitive Proxemics helps to broaden proxemic analysis within nonverbal behaviour to incorporate relevant cognitive and psychophysiological processes.