Recent studies of monkeys and humans have identified several brain regions that respond
to bodies. Researchers have so far mainly addressed the same questions about bodies and
bodily expressions that are already familiar from three decades of face and facial expression
studies. Our present goal is to review behavioral, electrophysiological and neurofunctional
studies on whole body and bodily expression perception against the background of what is
known about face perception. We review all currently available evidence in more detail than�…

Many studies provide support for the role of the fusiform gyrus in face recognition and its
sensitivity to emotional expressions. Recently, category-specific representation was also
observed for neutral human bodies in the middle temporal/middle occipital gyrus
(extrastriate body area) but it is not clear whether this area is also sensitive to emotional
bodily expressions. Besides these areas, other regions that process the affective information
carried by the face and the body may be common and/or specific to the face or the body. To�…