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Chapter 7220interactions on the short term but also better therapeutic outcomes (Kleinbub, 2017; Marci & Orr, 2006). Interventions employing music, rhythmic movement and dance can foster a dynamic, affective engagement with others, as in everyday life social interaction, by inducing or facilitating synchrony among individuals (Manders et al., 2022; Veid et al., 2023). Yet, factors determining the success of these interventions need to be further studied (Marquez-Garcia et al., 2022).ConclusionDifficulties in daily social interactions have a severe negative impact on the quality of life in individuals on the autism spectrum and in individuals with social anxiety. The goal of the current dissertation was to zoom in on one aspect that contributes to successful communication, namely the processing of others%u2019 non-verbal emotional expressions. In order to obtain a comprehensive and integrative picture of potential shared and distinct alterations, I investigated how the perception, the resonance and the interpretation of other individuals%u2019 (facial) emotional expressions, including links between different levels of description, are modulated by varying trait levels associated with autism and social anxiety as well as in the respective clinical diagnoses. Next to replicating findings of a decreased resonance of facial emotional expressions in higher autistic trait levels and autism with regard to both physiology (i.e., facial mimicry) and interpretation (i.e., emotion recognition and perceived emotional intensity), my studies emphasize potential alterations in the links between the two levels. Namely, individuals on the autism spectrum (or with higher autistic trait levels) may integrate physiological information less in interpreting others%u2019 emotional expressions. Differences in interoceptive processing in autism may play a role here, likely reinforcing a less embodied path to processing others%u2019 emotions. Using typical lab-based facial emotion processing paradigms, I did not observe strong and consistent evidence for specific alterations associated with social anxiety (trait levels). Some of my studies, including ongoing work, suggest that negatively-biased self-beliefs might influence the processing of and responding to emotional expressions, particularly in real-life interactions with others. Namely, individuals with social anxiety may expect to be judged more negatively by their interaction partners, influencing the interpretation of their expressions as well as the confidence in evaluating them. Furthermore, a stronger integration of bodily arousal, due to heightened attention to bodily signals,