Left: Spitzer/IRS spectra of the four transitional disks HD 97048, HD 169142, HD 135344 B and Oph IRS 48. The spectra are scaled relative to the 6.2-μm PAH peak flux and show a wide range in the I_6.2/I_11.3 ratio; most neutral in HD 97048 and most ionized in Oph IRS 48. Middle: VLT/VISIR observations show that FWHM as a function of wavelength. The size of the 11.3-μm feature is respectively larger, similar and smaller than the N-band continuum for HD 97048, HD 169142, HD 135344 B, and Oph IRS 48 (data from Maaskant et al. 2013). The diamond symbols show the sizes of the point spread functions of the observations. The dash-dotted black line is the diffraction limit of the telescope. Right: Sketches showing a qualitative interpretation of the spatial distribution of the dominant contribution of PAH emission, as shown by the colored ovals. Each object is given a similar color in the left, middle, and right plots.