Dr. Adam Anderson - Cornell University
Facial expressions are instrumental in regulating social interactions, but their specific forms may have originated in a less appreciated function in modifying perception. I will present evidence that 1) rather than distinct basic types, emotional expression appearance reflects oppositions in global form 2) the origin of these oppositions lies in a primitive sensory regulatory function for interactions with the physical environment and 3) that these sensory regulatory functions have been behaviorally and neurally co-opted for the purposes of social regulation, such as the role of disgust in moral judgment. This program of research suggests that complex socio-emotional processes may arise in part from primitive sensory regulatory functions.