ArticlePloS one2020
Sexual attraction modulates interpersonal distance and approach-avoidance movements towards virtual agents in males.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Approach-Avoidance Bias in Virtual and Real-World Simulations: Insights from a Systematic Review of Experimental Setups.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- A Dress Is Not a Yes: Towards an Indirect Mouse-Tracking Measure of Men's Overreliance on Global Cues in the Context of Sexual Flirting.Archives of sexual behavior · 2024Article
- Perceived interpersonal distance changes in young Taiwanese pre and post SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Perceived Interpersonal Distances: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Young Taiwanese and Young Southeast Asians during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Task-relevant social cues affect whole-body approach-avoidance behavior.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Face masks reduce interpersonal distance in virtual reality.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Physical distancing and the perception of interpersonal distance in the COVID-19 crisis.Scientific reports · 2021Observational
- Influence of Wearing Surgical Mask on Interpersonal Space Perception Between Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese People.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Article
- Interpersonal Distance in the SARS-CoV-2 Crisis.Human factors · 2020Article
- Correction: Sexual attraction modulates interpersonal distance and approach-avoidance movements towards virtual agents in males.PloS one · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
How does sexual attraction alter social interaction behavior? We examined the influence of sexual orientation on locomotor approach-avoidance behavior and interpersonal distance. We immersed androphilic and gynophilic male subjects into a virtual environment and presented various male and female virtual persons. In the first experiment, subjects took a step forward (approach) or backward (avoidance) in response to the sex of the virtual person. We measured reaction time, peak velocity, and step size, and obtained ratings of sexual attractiveness in every trial. In the second experiment, subjects had to approach the virtual person as if they were to engage in a social interaction. Here, we analyzed interpersonal distance and peak velocity of the approaches. Our results suggest that sexual attraction facilitates the approach response and reduces the preferred interpersonal distance. We discuss our findings in terms of proxemics, current findings in sex research, and the applicability of our novel task in other fields of psychological research.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.