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Part of
Emotion in Language: Theory – research – application
Edited by Ulrike M. Lüdtke
[Consciousness & Emotion Book Series 10] 2015
► pp. 49–68

Emotion on board

| CNRS Centre Emotion La Salpétrière Hospital, France
| Paris-8 University, France

Emotion is on board from first. Fetal facial expressions change strikingly fast, thus indicating that they are actively practiced before birth. What for? Are we wired to express our emotions and to resonate to others’? Blank faces or non contingent faces cause disturbance early on life. When mother does not respond contingently to her 2-month-old, the infant mood turns to negative expression. Children with autism, even low-functioning ones, try to reconnect with a still person. Children track preferentially core expressive features, even if those features are generated by a robot. Our EEG studies with adults indicate that emotion is captured regardless of the vehicle (human or robotic stimuli). This suggests that emotional development leads to decipher emotional signals beyond faces.

Keywords: children with autism, EEG studies, emotional development, emotions, fetal facial expressions
Published online: 16 December 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ceb.10.03nad
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