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Cited by 298Face Recognition and PerceptionAction Observation and SynchronizationNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Seeing fearful body expressions activates the fusiform cortex and amygdala

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Hadjikhani, Nouchine, de Gelder, Beatrice·2003·Current Biology
DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2003.11.049
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Abstract

Darwin's evolutionary approach to organisms' emotional states attributes a prominent role to expressions of emotion in whole-body actions. Researchers in social psychology [1,2] and human development [3] have long emphasized the fact that emotional states are expressed through body movement, but cognitive neuroscientists have almost exclusively considered isolated facial expressions (for review, see [4]). Here we used high-field fMRI to determine the underlying neural mechanisms of perception of body expression of emotion. Subjects were presented with short blocks of body expressions of fear alternating with short blocks of emotionally neutral meaningful body gestures. All images had internal facial features blurred out to avoid confounds due to a face or facial expression. We show that exposure to body expressions of fear, as opposed to neutral body postures, activates the fusiform gyrus and the amygdala. The fact that these two areas have previously been associated with the processing of faces and facial expressions [5-8] suggests synergies between facial and body-action expressions of emotion. Our findings open a new area of investigation of the role of body expressions of emotion in adaptive behavior as well as the relation between processes of emotion recognition in the face and in the body.

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  • A similar neural response has been found following the perception of others' and one's own experience of pain, fear, disgust, anxiety, reward, envy, and embarrassment.

    “For instance, a similar neural response has been found following the perception of other's and own experience of pain (Jackson et al., 2006b), fear (de Gelder et al., 2004;Hadjikhani and de Gelder, 2003), disgust (Wicker et al., 2003), anxiety (Prehn-Kristensen et al., 2009), reward (Mobbs et al., 2009) and also higher order affects such as envy (Takahashi et al., 2009) and embarrassment (Krach et”

    From Connecting minds and sharing emotions through mimicry: A neurocognitive model of emotional contagion (2017) · cites this paper as Hadjikhani and de Gelder, 2003

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Authors
Hadjikhani, N., & de Gelder, B.
Affiliations
Harvard University (US)
Corresponding author
Hadjikhani, Nouchine
ORCID
Hadjikhani, Nouchine
Venue
Current Biology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2003-12
Volume
13
Issue
24
Pages
2201-2205
ISSN
0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.cub.2003.11.049
OpenAlex
W1972064926
Cited by
298
References
4
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 15
FWCI
5.05
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Current Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research portal (Tilburg University) (submittedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (RO1 NS44824-01)
  • National Center for Research Resources (P41RR14075)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
fear, fusiform gyrus, amygdala, emotion recognition, facial expressions, body language
MeSH terms
Amygdala, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Fear, Humans, Kinesics, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Photic Stimulation

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