Page 22 - Demo

Chapter 120co-occurs in autism, with comorbidity rates ranging between 16.6% - 50% (Bejerot et al., 2014; Maddox & White, 2015; van Steensel et al., 2011). In order to get a better idea of potential shared and distinct mechanisms underlying alterations in social functioning in autism and social anxiety, a fine-grained investigation of alterations in processing social information is required. The present dissertation therefore zooms in on the perception and the resonance of others%u2019 nonverbal emotional expressions in both varying trait levels associated with autism and social anxiety in non-diagnosed individuals as well as in the two conditions. Perception of Nonverbal Signals of Emotions in Autism and Social AnxietyNon-verbal expressions of emotions, such as facial displays, body postures, movements, vocalizations, or gestures (A. Cowen et al., 2019; Dael et al., 2013; de Gelder, 2006; Ekman, 1993; Sauter et al., 2010; Witkower & Tracy, 2019), are relevant signals in guiding social interactions, by providing information about the expressor%u2019s emotional state. This social-communicative function is, however, not considered the original function of emotional expressions. It is proposed to have emerged in socially complex animals to transfer information, going beyond a pure physiological function (Shariff & Tracy, 2011; Tracy et al., 2015). Namely, from an evolutionary perspective, emotions primarily served to promote survival, as specialized modes that allow the organism to adaptively respond to the environment (Nesse, 1990; Tooby & Cosmides, 1990). Here, basic emotion theory highlights a set of fundamental, evolutionary-adaptive emotions (commonly: anger, fear, happiness, surprise, sadness and disgust), which are distinct to each other and share differences to related phenomena, such as moods (Ekman, 1992). One of the shared characteristics of these emotions is their emotion-specific expression, which has primarily been described in the face in humans, including the definition of specific muscle activation patterns (Friesen & Ekman, 1983). Opposing the idea of emotions as universal, hardwired modes, constructionist perspectives point out the uniqueness of each emotional experience. They propose that emotions are constructed based on an individuals%u2019 past experiences, their current states and the environment that they are in, thus never resulting in the exactly same experience (see Barrett, 2006; Russell, 2003). While the debate on the nature of emotions is ever ongoing between proponents of the two different perspectives, many scholars acknowledge a functional basis, which allows for a categorization