Emotion

Emotional signals are crucial for sharing important information with others, for example to warn them of danger or to share enjoyment. We use many different signals to communicate to others how they feel, including facial expressions, vocalizations, and gesture. In our work, we address questions of whether these expressions are learned from cultural rules, or whether some emotional signals are biologically hard-wired.

And in cases where culture plays a role, what features are important in shaping our emotions? We use a range of tools to investigate the roles of biological and cultural factors in emotional communication, including comparisons of perceptual and linguistic processes in different cultural groups, and studies of the ontogeny and phylogeny vocal emotional signals. For more information contact Disa Sauter.