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Zusammenfassung:
Body language reading is essential for social cognition and interaction. Healthy individuals readily recognize emotions conveyed by body motion, yet the underlying brain circuitry remains largely unknown. Here, we conducted a functional MRI (3T Trio, Siemens Medical Solutions, Erlangen, Germany) in 17 healthy adults during recognition of different emotional expression in dynamic displays of knocking on a door. Data pre-processing and analysis were conducted with Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM12, Wellcome Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, London, UK, http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm). Positive knocking elicited higher activations in the right basal ganglia and superior temporal sulcus (STS), as compared to neutral displays. The left inferior insula, anterior and medial cingulate cortex were more activated by negative emotion. Neutral contrasted to emotional body language engaged left cerebellar lobule IX and right amygdala. In a nutshell, the outcome indicates a distributed cerebro-cerebellar network for visual processing of emotional body language. Midline cerebellar structures and the amygdala may interact in signalling a lack of emotional expression. This is in line with recent data on cerebellar involvement in visual processing of body motion, and may open a window for future research on the role of cerebellum in neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and autistic spectrum disorders.
