Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Human Affective Neuroscience
- Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology
- The Cambridge Handbook of Human Affective Neuroscience
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Section I Theoretical Models of Emotion
- Section II Measuring Emotional Processes
- Section III Emotion Perception and Elicitation
- Section IV Emotional Learning and Memory
- Section V Cognition–Emotion Interactions
- Chapter 19 Affective Biases in Attention, Cognitive Control, and Awareness
- Chapter 20 How Emotional Expressions Motivate Action
- Chapter 21 From Perception to Action
- Chapter 22 Neural Mechanisms of Arbitration between Multiple Experts in Value-Based Decision-Making
- Chapter 23 The Affective Neuroscience of Emotion Regulation
- Section VI Social Emotions
- Section VII Individual Differences
- Index
- References
Chapter 20 - How Emotional Expressions Motivate Action
from Section V - Cognition–Emotion Interactions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2025
Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Human Affective Neuroscience
- Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology
- The Cambridge Handbook of Human Affective Neuroscience
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Section I Theoretical Models of Emotion
- Section II Measuring Emotional Processes
- Section III Emotion Perception and Elicitation
- Section IV Emotional Learning and Memory
- Section V Cognition–Emotion Interactions
- Chapter 19 Affective Biases in Attention, Cognitive Control, and Awareness
- Chapter 20 How Emotional Expressions Motivate Action
- Chapter 21 From Perception to Action
- Chapter 22 Neural Mechanisms of Arbitration between Multiple Experts in Value-Based Decision-Making
- Chapter 23 The Affective Neuroscience of Emotion Regulation
- Section VI Social Emotions
- Section VII Individual Differences
- Index
- References
Summary
Social adaptation requires humans to respond to others’ nonverbal emotional cues by selecting and executing adaptive motor responses. In this chapter, we provide a general overview of how visual perception of others’ emotional expressions, particularly threatening faces and bodies, promotes rapid processing and elaboration of multiple opportunities for action, at different levels of complexity. Notably, we will highlight how subcortical and cortical neural pathways interact to flexibly orchestrate our social behavior in response to threatening expressions, ranging from simple stimulus-driven reactions to more elaborated goal-directed actions. We will review recent findings from research on humans and other animals and discuss clinical implications, as well as future challenges and perspectives.
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Human Affective Neuroscience , pp. 408 - 424Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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