Emotions and the Body

Abstract

Abstract Body language is a powerful means of communication. This book deals with how bodies play a role in the expression and perception of emotions. There are many similarities between faces and bodies, but to understand how bodies function in communication the differences may be more important than the similarities. The book discusses the neural basis and the temporal processing signatures of emotional body language and our current understanding of the neuropsychology of emotional face and body disorders. What is the influence of the natural and social context, of movement and prosody, on the perception of body expressions? How do facial and bodily expression interact? Body language is perceived even with limited attention and reduced visual awareness, as studies with patients show. What is the nature of emotional experience, and how does it relate to awareness? Are there also important gender and cultural differences in emotional body language as found for facial expressions? Are some cultures less expressive in their body language? From physical bodies the book proceeds to discuss virtual bodies, avatars, and robots. How do we feel about nonhuman bodies like avatars or robots? What role does emotional body language play in social interaction? The research on emotional body language show that emotions are tools for adaptive action, and we should consider social abilities as abilities to anticipate, to predict interactions with real, imagined, and virtual others.