ABSTRACT
In emotion research, a sophisticated framework for how emotions are expressed through the face is beginning to emerge, but our understanding of how the dynamic human body transmits this information is extremely limited. Dancers have been found to show superior accuracy in recognising emotion from whole-body movement displays in comparison with non-dancer controls, but it is currently unclear why this occurs. The present study aims to bridge this gap by exploring the relationship between emotion recognition and visual fixation patterns in three different groups: professional dancers, amateur dancers, and non-dancer controls. In this study, participants watched a series of 5–6▒s dance sequences and completed a binary-choice emotion recognition task while eye-movement data was collected. Professional dancers were significantly more accurate in identifying dance movements with a positive valence when compared with the non-dancer group but showed the poorest overall recognition of negative valence. No significant differences emerged between groups for visual-fixation on any of the target features; rather, all groups appeared to adopt holistic visual-processing strategies. These results are discussed in relation to response bias, the methodological limitations of data collection, and potential observation strategies used by participants. Subjective perceptions of emotion are also explored in relation to quantitative features of movement (through Laban Movement Analysis). Finally, suggestions for future research are presented based on gaps that still exist within the literature.
