Peripersonal space: a neural system mapping self-environment interaction 'here and now'

The space surrounding the body where physical interactions with external stimuli occur is referred to as peripersonal space (PPS). Traditionally conceived as a spatial construct, PPS is better understood as a neural representation that integrates bodily inputs with external cues to predict body-object interactions. After summarizing its multisensory, motor, and plastic properties, this review draws on computational models to examine how PPS captures statistical regularities of body-object interactions. This predictive function may position PPS as an interface between self and environment, contributing to minimal self-consciousness and its alterations across states of consciousness and neuropsychiatric conditions. Recent findings extend this framework to the inner body, suggesting that interoceptive signals shape PPS and that PPS-related processing may influence immune responses.