Do bodily expressions compete with facial expressions? Time course of integration of emotional signals from the face and the body.

ABSTRACT: The decoding of social signals from nonverbal cues plays a vital role in the social interactions of socially gregarious animals such as humans. Because nonverbal emotional signals from the face and body are normally seen together, it is important to investigate the mechanism underlying the integration of emotional signals from these two sources. We conducted a study in which the time course of the integration of facial and bodily expressions was examined via analysis of event-related potentials (ERPs) while the focus of attention was manipulated. Distinctive integrating features were found during multiple stages of processing. In the first stage, threatening information from the body was extracted automatically and rapidly, as evidenced by enhanced P1 amplitudes when the subjects viewed co

SUBMITTER: Gu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3720771 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature