body language analysis essay

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Article Contents

Introduction, the power of non-verbal communication, in academic settings, the role of body language in interviews and evaluations, cultural considerations, the impact of body language on collaboration, declarations.

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Unspoken science: exploring the significance of body language in science and academia

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Mansi Patil, Vishal Patil, Unisha Katre, Unspoken science: exploring the significance of body language in science and academia, European Heart Journal , Volume 45, Issue 4, 21 January 2024, Pages 250–252, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehad598

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Scientific presentations serve as a platform for researchers to share their work and engage with their peers. Science and academia rely heavily on effective communication to share knowledge and foster collaboration. Science and academia are domains deeply rooted in the pursuit of knowledge and the exchange of ideas. While the focus is often on the content of research papers, lectures, and presentations, there is another form of communication that plays a significant role in these fields: body language. Non-verbal cues, such as facial expressions, gestures, posture, and eye contact, can convey a wealth of information, often subtly influencing interpersonal dynamics and the perception of scientific work. In this article, we will delve into the unspoken science of body language, exploring its significance in science and academia. It is essential to emphasize on the importance of body language in scientific and academic settings, highlighting its impact on presentations, interactions, interviews, and collaborations. Additionally, cultural considerations and the implications for cross-cultural communication are explored. By understanding the unspoken science of body language, researchers and academics can enhance their communication skills and promote a more inclusive and productive scientific community.

Communication is a multi-faceted process, and words are only one aspect of it. Research suggests that non-verbal communication constitutes a substantial portion of human interaction, often conveying information that words alone cannot. Body language has a direct impact on how people perceive and interpret scientific ideas and findings. 1 For example, a presenter who maintains confident eye contact, uses purposeful gestures, and exhibits an open posture is likely to be seen as more credible and persuasive compared with someone who fidgets, avoids eye contact, and displays closed-off body language ( Figure 1 ).

Types of non-verbal communications. 2 Non-verbal communication comprises of haptics, gestures, proxemics, facial expressions, paralinguistics, body language, appearance, eye contact, and artefacts.

In academia, body language plays a crucial role in various contexts. During lectures, professors who use engaging body language, such as animated gestures and expressive facial expressions, can captivate their students and enhance the learning experience. Similarly, students who exhibit attentive and respectful body language, such as maintaining eye contact and nodding, signal their interest and engagement in the subject matter. 3

Body language also influences interactions between colleagues and supervisors. For instance, in a laboratory setting, researchers who display confident and open body language are more likely to be perceived as competent and reliable by their peers. Conversely, individuals who exhibit closed-off or defensive body language may inadvertently create an environment that inhibits collaboration and knowledge sharing. The impact of haptics in research collaboration and networking lies in its potential to enhance interpersonal connections and convey emotions, thereby fostering a deeper sense of empathy and engagement among participants.

Interviews and evaluations are critical moments in academic and scientific careers. Body language can significantly impact the outcomes of these processes. Candidates who display confident body language, including good posture, firm handshakes, and appropriate gestures, are more likely to make positive impressions on interviewers or evaluators. Conversely, individuals who exhibit nervousness or closed-off body language may unwittingly convey a lack of confidence or competence, even if their qualifications are strong. Recognizing the power of body language in these situations allows individuals to present themselves more effectively and positively.

Non-verbal cues play a pivotal role during interviews and conferences, where researchers and academics showcase their work. When attending conferences or presenting research, scientists must be aware of their body language to effectively convey their expertise and credibility. Confident body language can inspire confidence in others, making it easier to establish professional connections, garner support for research projects, and secure collaborations.

Similarly, during job interviews, body language can significantly impact the outcome. The facial non-verbal elements of an interviewee in a job interview setting can have a great effect on their chances of being hired. The face as a whole, the eyes, and the mouth are features that are looked at and observed by the interviewer as they makes their judgements on the person’s effective work ability. The more an applicant genuinely smiles and has their eyes’ non-verbal message match their mouth’s non-verbal message, they will be more likely to get hired than those who do not. As proven, that first impression can be made in only milliseconds; thus, it is crucial for an applicant to pass that first test. It paints the road for the rest of the interview process. 4

While body language is a universal form of communication, it is important to recognize that its interpretation can vary across cultures. Different cultures have distinct norms and expectations regarding body language, and what may be seen as confident in one culture may be interpreted differently in another. 5 It is crucial for scientists and academics to be aware of these cultural nuances to foster effective cross-cultural communication and understanding. Awareness of cultural nuances is crucial in fostering effective cross-cultural communication and understanding. Scientists and academics engaged in international collaborations or interactions should familiarize themselves with cultural differences to avoid misunderstandings and promote respectful and inclusive communication.

Collaboration lies at the heart of scientific progress and academic success. Body language plays a significant role in building trust and establishing effective collaboration among researchers and academics. Open and inviting body language, along with active listening skills, can foster an environment where ideas can be freely exchanged, leading to innovative breakthroughs. In research collaboration and networking, proxemics can significantly affect the level of trust and rapport between researchers. Respecting each other’s personal space and maintaining appropriate distances during interactions can foster a more positive and productive working relationship, leading to better communication and idea exchange ( Figure 2 ). Furthermore, being aware of cultural variations in proxemics can help researchers navigate diverse networking contexts, promoting cross-cultural understanding and enabling more fruitful international collaborations.

Overcoming the barrier of communication. The following factors are important for overcoming the barriers in communication, namely, using culturally appropriate language, being observant, assuming positive intentions, avoiding being judgemental, identifying and controlling bias, slowing down responses, emphasizing relationships, seeking help from interpreters, being eager to learn and adapt, and being empathetic.

On the other hand, negative body language, such as crossed arms, lack of eye contact, or dismissive gestures, can signal disinterest or disagreement, hindering collaboration and stifling the flow of ideas. Recognizing and addressing such non-verbal cues can help create a more inclusive and productive scientific community.

Effective communication is paramount in science and academia, where the exchange of ideas and knowledge fuels progress. While the scientific community often focuses on the power of words, it is crucial not to send across conflicting verbal and non-verbal cues. While much attention is given to verbal communication, the significance of non-verbal cues, specifically body language, cannot be overlooked. Body language encompasses facial expressions, gestures, posture, eye contact, and other non-verbal behaviours that convey information beyond words.

Disclosure of Interest

There are no conflicts of interests from all authors.

Baugh AD , Vanderbilt AA , Baugh RF . Communication training is inadequate: the role of deception, non-verbal communication, and cultural proficiency . Med Educ Online 2020 ; 25 : 1820228 . https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2020.1820228

Google Scholar

Aralia . 8 Nonverbal Tips for Public Speaking . Aralia Education Technology. https://www.aralia.com/helpful-information/nonverbal-tips-public-speaking/ (22 July 2023, date last accessed)

Danesi M . Nonverbal communication. In: Understanding Nonverbal Communication : Boomsburry Academic , 2022 ; 121 – 162 . https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350152670.ch-001

Google Preview

Cortez R , Marshall D , Yang C , Luong L . First impressions, cultural assimilation, and hireability in job interviews: examining body language and facial expressions’ impact on employer’s perceptions of applicants . Concordia J Commun Res 2017 ; 4 . https://doi.org/10.54416/dgjn3336

Pozzer-Ardenghi L . Nonverbal aspects of communication and interaction and their role in teaching and learning science. In: The World of Science Education . Netherlands : Brill , 2009 , 259 – 271 . https://doi.org/10.1163/9789087907471_019

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Language Analysis: The Perfect Essay Structure

Lauren White

Thursday 12th, May 2016

Language Analysis. It’s a third of the exam, and it’s one of the hardest parts of the VCE English course to master. Many schools complete their Language Analysis SAC early in the year, which means you’ll have months between your school assessment and the end-of-year task. Unfortunately, if you don’t keep up your skills in the meantime, it’s all too easy to fall behind and end up heading into October like “wait… what’s a language analysis and how do I do one!?”

(Sneaky plug for our L.A. Club if you’re looking for some valuable practice & feedback!)

What’s worse is that the kind of material you’re dealing with in your SACs probably won’t be very similar to what’s on the exam.  AND the advice you get from your teachers may not align with what the assessors expect of you.

So how can you write an objectively safe, ridiculously impressive, kick-ass 10/10 piece at the end of the year?

Well, let’s first look at what the task involves.  (NOTE: we’re mainly going to be focussing on Language Analysis in the exam as opposed to your SAC. Check with your teacher if you’re looking for an idea essay structure for your in-school assessment. This guide is to help you prepare for the big end-of-year task!)

What’s the point of a Language Analysis?

Luckily, there’s a pretty big clue on the Section C page of the exam. And by ‘clue,’ I mean VCAA have straight up told you what they’re looking for.

How is language used to persuade the audience?

That is what your whole piece should be geared towards. Not how many techniques you can find. Not how many quotes you can cram into your paragraphs. Not how many synonyms for the word ‘contends’ you can use. So long as your essays are addressing that core question, everything else is secondary.

However, there are different sub-criteria you’re expected to address, and those aren’t stated quite so clearly.

For one, you are required to  unpack the persuasive devices and the  language features in the material. You need to strike a  balance between the different types of material you’re given. You need to talk about the way these techniques  affect the audience and why the author would want them to think/feel/believe something. And you should also endeavour to discuss  tone (or tonal shifts), connections between written and visual material, and  the connotations of words and phrases.

For more on the different requirements in Language Analysis, scroll down to the end of this article for a complete checklist!

Introductions

Any introduction you write is going to be pretty important. In Language Analysis, your intro isn’t technically  worth any marks, but it is your chance to make a good first impression on your assessor! If your introduction is a rambly mess and takes three quarters of a page to express a whole bunch of useless information, then the person marking your work isn’t going to be too thrilled with you. Or, if you’ve misunderstood the author’s contention from the outset, you’re going to find it harder to recover later.

Compare this with an intro that’s clear, concise, and not bogged down by any unnecessary repetition.  Obviously  this neat intro is going to be a much better starting point.

Good Language Analysis introductions will usually be pretty straightforward. The most important thing is that you  outline the contention of the main written piece(s).

Generally, you should also touch on the background information and the ‘spark’ that prompted this author to respond to an issue, though this is more optional and shouldn’t take more than a sentence or two. From there, you can outline the main contention, as well as the arguments of any accompanying written or visual material.

Note that if you get multiple written pieces, you don’t have to go through  every single contention.  So if you were given, say, three comments along with a blog post, explaining the contentions of each of those comments wouldn’t be necessary. In those circumstances, it’s enough to just go through the contention of the main piece and then mention that ‘this piece was also accompanied by a variety of comments spanning different views from members of the public.’ Then, when you have to analyse these comments in your body paragraphs, you can just give a quick run-down of those contentions where necessary.

Consider the following introduction for the 2015 VCAA exam:

SAMPLE LANGUAGE ANALYSIS INTRODUCTION

At the 2015 ceremony for the recognition of Australian volunteer organisations, the CEO of bigsplash, Stephanie Bennett, gave a speech celebrating the altruism of volunteers and extolling the good they do for their communities, and society as a whole. The speech which was later televised addressed the groups of volunteers who were present and praised them for their selfless acts of generosity. ‘bigsplash’ also bestowed an award upon a group called ‘Tradespeople Without Borders,’ and their spokesperson Mathew Nguyen was invited to give an acceptance speech. In it, he contended that volunteering should be thought of as its own reward, and that although the praise was welcome, it shouldn’t be an expected part of the volunteering process. Both of these speeches were also accompanied by various visual aids.

Notice that this intro has focused more so on the contentions of the two written pieces and has only really addressed the visuals in that final sentence? That’s because, for this exam, the written content was way more dominant. It wouldn’t’ve hurt to briefly summarise what the visuals were, but in the interests of keeping the intro  short and sweet, we can just leave them till later.

Body Paragraphs

Now onto the  important parts of your Language Analysis essay – body paragraphs! This is where the vast majority of your marks are decided, and no matter how delightful your intros and conclusions are, the body paragraphs are your biggest priorities. Solid language analysis abilities are the strength of any Section C piece, so it’s crucial that you know how to conduct  detailed and efficient analysis.

There are many different ways to analyse the material, and it will depend on the kind of content you get given in the exam. But the way you format your analysis is also a pretty significant factor.

The most common strategy is to structure things chronologically (meaning you just start analysing the beginning of the material and go on till you get to the end and run out of stuff to say). The advantage here is that this method is pretty straightforward, and won’t require a whole lot of planning. You can essentially just read through the material once or twice and begin analysing straight away. But the disadvantage is that there’s a chance your essay could become really imbalanced. If the author’s arguments are all over the place, and you end up repeating yourself and jumping around unnecessarily, you could potentially lose marks for lacking cohesiveness.

Other methods involve structuring by  techniques, which is even riskier since it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to find a neat way to divide the material up into three or four paragraphs based on the language devices they employ. And if you just turn your ‘essay’ into a collection of disconnected paragraphs focussing on a heap of different techniques, you’ll definitely struggle to earn credit for your overall structuring of the material.

What I would recommend instead is that you structure your essay by  arguments  (or, more accurately, sub-arguments ).

How do you do that?

Well, if an author is trying to convince you that their contention was right, then they’d also be trying to convince you of various other supporting points.

For instance, if I were trying to persuade you to move to New Zealand, then it would make sense that I’d also want you to believe that:

– New Zealand is more livable than Australia.

– New Zealand has a strong economy and job prospects.

– New Zealand people are nicer and better looking.

…and so on. Whereas, if I were trying to persuade you NOT to move to New Zealand, then I’d be claiming that

– New Zealand is way less livable than Australia.

– New Zealand’s economy is dead and no one can find employment.

– New Zealand people are all cruel and ugly.

From this, we can conclude that  the sub-arguments are supporting the overall contention. Because if I were instead trying to argue that you SHOULD move to New Zealand, but I was saying that their economy was dead and that everyone who lived there was hideous, that wouldn’t help strengthen my argument.

So if you were to conduct a Language Analysis based on my argument, you might break things down into:

Paragraph 1: the livability of New Zealand

Paragraph 2: the strength of the New Zealand economy, and the potential job prospects

Paragraph 3: the appeal of New Zealand people

Then, in each of these paragraphs, you would discuss  how language is used to persuade readers of these sub-arguments.  And at the end of each paragraph, you can link these sub-arguments to the overall contention of the author. So you’d begin by outlining what the sub-argument is, and what the author is suggesting. Then, you’d analyse evidence from the material to demonstrate this. Finally, you can explain  why this sub-argument is supporting the author’s broader intention.

This will neatly get around the problem of needing to jump around the articles (since you’re grouping by ideas/arguments rather than going through it all line by line,) and it will usually make for a much clearer and more even dissection of the material. It’s reasonably quick, it’s easy to master, and it’s probably the most sophisticated way to format your analysis, so I’d definitely recommend this as your first resort.

That is, unless you get a comparative piece…

OMG COMPARATIVE LANGUAGE ANALYSIS WTF!?

Yep. Comparative tasks are not only very possible (as the 2011, 2014, and 2015 exams show,) but it’s also quite likely that you’ll have to deal with them this year. There’s no telling what VCAA will throw at you though. Maybe it’ll just be a single written piece with a couple of visuals (à la   2008-2013), maybe it’ll be one main piece with a comment or response (like in 2014 and 2015), or maybe it’ll be some kind of horrifically difficult task with half a dozen different written pieces (*cough 2011 cough*). Likewise, we don’t know whether there’ll be an opinion piece, a speech, a blog post, or something we haven’t seen before. Everything’s a mystery until 9:00am October 26th when about 50,000 kids turn to Section C.

But the fact that you don’t know precisely what kind of material is going to come up doesn’t mean it’s impossible to prepare yourself.

After all, you don’t know which exact numbers are going to be on your Maths exams ahead of time, do you?

Whilst you may not be able to predict what the exam material will look like, there are a couple of things we can safely assume.

1. There’ll be two pages worth of content to analyse.

2. There will DEFINITELY be both written and visual material.

3. Supplementary visual material (e.g. a slideshow presentation or an embedded visual) usually has the same contention as the piece it accompanies.

4. The material will be based on the same subject matter, even if the contentions of written pieces differ.

But guess what? Our sub-argument approach from above still works for comparative material!

All you have to do is  find sub-arguments that are present in different written pieces. Let’s take that New Zealand example from above, and assume that you were given two pieces on the exam. The first one argues that you  should move to New Zealand for those reasons we outlined. But the second piece suggests that you  shouldn’t move.

Your essay will consist of three paragraphs (if you’ve found three key ideas you believe to be important) and each one will focus on the same sub-arguments as before:

Paragraph 1: the livability of New Zealand.

Paragraph 2: the strength of the New Zealand economy, and the potential job prospects.

Paragraph 3: the appeal of New Zealand people.

But this time, you will spend time on both pieces within the same paragraph.

For instance, in your first paragraph, you would discuss how the first author depicts New Zealand as a wonderful island paradise. Then (using a linking phrase like ‘by contrast’ or ‘on the other hand,’) you’ll bring up the second author and discuss how they instead draw attention to how New Zealand is a nightmarish hellscape full of blood and gore and death, and no one would  ever  want to live there!

*Disclaimer: I have never been to New Zealand.

Point being:  your body paragraph contrasts the authors’ approaches, thereby ensuring you don’t have to do a clunky ‘comparison’ paragraph at the end.

Note that you DON’T have to mention every single article in every single paragraph of your Language Analysis piece. If you were given something like the 2015 exam, you might have:

Paragraph 1: the main speech + the first visual.

Paragraph 2: the main speech + the secondary speech.

Paragraph 3: the secondary speech + the second visual.

There’s no one correct structure; it’s all dependent on what YOU think is important.

By way of example, here’s a body paragraph for the 2015 exam that looks at the main speech, and the secondary one, looking at the way the two speakers position the award:

SAMPLE LANGUAGE ANALYSIS BODY PARAGRAPH

Bennett likewise lauds the role of the Volunteers Award as an important and necessary gesture of recognition. From the outset, she proclaims that it is her “great privilege” to present the ceremony, which aggrandises the award by implying that it is an honour to present, let alone to receive. She also clearly elucidates bigsplash’s intentions by directly stating that their “corporate ethos” has prompted them to try and “address [the] lack of acknowledgement” granted to volunteers. Hence, she engenders the audience’s respect for the organisation in order to solidify the award as being the product of a benevolent institution. This can also be seen in her use of definitive and pithy language in calling for the audience to “never forget or overlook” volunteers since “bigsplash certainly does not.” By contrasting words like “forget” and “overlook” and their connotations of neglect and disregard with the comparatively kind and fair ethos of ‘bigsplash,’ Bennett positions the award as something that corrects this injustice. And since she explicitly characterises the award as being “from bigsplash,” she is therefore highlighting the company’s social conscience and goodwill. Contrarily, although Nguyen in his acceptance speech does recognise the importance of the award, he instead sees it as an incidental part of volunteering rather than an integral force to redress the balance of acknowledgement. His colloquial opening of “thanks heaps” and “cheers” stands in contrast to Bennett’s formality, and instead creates a sense of casual humility as opposed to ceremonious grandeur. Nguyen also declares that the “pleasure” achieved through “seeing things improve for people” is in fact “better than [the] award” with the comparative word “better” eliciting a comparison in the audience’s minds in which volunteering is more beneficial and rewarding than receiving a formal commendation. Thus, Nguyen’s speech infers that volunteers should derive fulfilment by observing the positive consequences of their actions, and that bigsplash’s award is a welcome, but ultimately inessential part of their intentions.

See how that transition sentence made the connection between these two pieces nice and clear?  This is all the comparison you need! So don’t waste a whole paragraph going back and forth between different parts of the material. Just find a point of similarity or difference between them, and do a quick and simple transition within one of your body paragraphs.

Conclusions

Finally, there’s the conclusion of your Language Analysis essay. Much like the intro, it is a structural requirement meaning you should write one if you don’t want to lose marks. However, there’s not a lot at stake here. Provided you can wrap things up nicely and make a good final impression, you should be fine.

If possible, try and say something about how language has been used overall, or comment on a major appeal or big technique that the author uses. Otherwise, just build your way back out to the overall contentions, and make a brief statement or two about how the author wants the audience to respond. Don’t do any new analysis, and try not to just list various devices you’ve found. Instead, focus on the broad intentions of the author, and the way they are positioning the audience.

Here’s a sample conclusion based on the 2015 exam that deals with both written pieces:

SAMPLE LANGUAGE ANALYSIS CONCLUSION

By implying that volunteering should be done without expecting gratitude, Nguyen’s speech encourages the audience to consider acts of charity as being more rewarding than commendation. By contrast, Bennett suggests that bigsplash and their award is a potent symbol of the need to recognise and reward those who contribute to the community. Thus, whilst both speakers concur that volunteering is an admirable and selfless act, Bennett seeks to elicit the audience’s approval for bigsplash’s generosity towards the volunteers whose work goes unnoticed, while Nguyen instead encourages the audience to view volunteering as a philanthropic act that doesn’t necessarily require acknowledgement to be worthwhile.

Language Analysis Checklist

Length and coverage.

• Is the piece an appropriate length given the task material? • Does the spread of the analysis reflect the spread of the material? • Is the analysis balanced across the written and/or visual pieces with an appropriate amount of explanation for each? • Does the piece appear to have covered the most important facets or ‘gist’ of the material? • Does the piece take into consideration any relevant background information or structural features (e.g. it being a blog, speech, magazine interview, etc.)? • Has the piece avoided summarising the material, or evaluating it by casting judgement on the effectiveness of the persuasion or providing their opinion on the issue?

• Does the piece adopt a structure that is suitable to the task? • Are the paragraphs (if multiple) roughly even and balanced in terms of what they’re covering? • Does the piece begin and conclude in an appropriate way?

• Is the contention articulated in this piece accurate, and well-explained? • Has this piece expressed a comprehensive understanding of the overarching argument and sub-arguments? • Does the analysis in this piece help support the contention that has been identified?

Quality of Analysis

• Does this piece justify itself in terms of how language is used to persuade? • Does it use a method of analysis that maximises efficiency? • Does this piece examine persuasive language and explain how it is persuasive? • Are there a few examples of close connotative analysis, and has this piece taken the appropriate opportunities to explore this language? • Does this piece have sufficient explanations as to how the audience are made to think, feel, or believe? • Is the piece accurate in its assessment of the audience’s response and the author’s intention? • Do the points raised in this analysis culminate in a discussion of why the author has made certain choices in order to get their argument across?

Topic Sentences

• Does the piece have effective topic sentences that make the initial focus clear? • Are the topic sentences precise and well-worded? • Has the student avoided jumping into close analysis too soon? • Do the topic sentences outline a concept specific to the material as opposed to a very general concern relating to the issue instead of the material?

• Have the quotes been well-integrated, and do they fit the grammar of the sentences they’re in? • Has the student modified quotes with [square brackets] and ellipsis […] where appropriate? • Are the quotes the right length, and has the student selected the most relevant language to include as opposed to inserting a whole chunk of the piece in their own work? • Do the quotes support the analysis being conducted? • Does the piece use a sufficiently varied amount of evidence and avoid using the same language multiple times, where possible?

• Has the piece made succinct and obvious connections between different points of analysis? • Does the piece have a sense of flow in the way it transitions both within and between paragraphs?

Techniques and Metalanguage

• Has this piece correctly identified a variety of important rhetorical and persuasive devices? • Are these devices linked to an appropriate quote or example to demonstrate their application? • Does this piece use the correct metalanguage when commenting on language, tone, and argument?

• Does the analysis comment on any overarching tones in the material? • Does the analysis comment on any distinctive tonal shifts in the material? • Is this discussion on tone supported by quotes/evidence?

Visual Analysis

• Does the piece choose an appropriate moment to comment on the visual? • Has the piece correctly identified the contention of the visual, or, at least, has the piece conducted sufficient justification for its interpretation of the visual? • Does the piece use metalanguage to describe the visual features and explain how and why they persuade? • Has the piece made effective connections between the written and visual material (where applicable)?

Comparative Analysis

• Is the wording and syntax of this piece clear and concise? • Are the sentences an appropriate length with the right amount of information packaged into each one? • Does the piece flow effectively from one piece of analysis to the next, successfully avoiding the trap of feeling like a string of unconnected bits and pieces based on annotations? • Does the expression and grammar do justice to the quality of the analysis?

If you have any Language Analysis questions, feel free to drop them below. Alternatively, our English Q and A thread is always at your service!

How should I approach writing an introduction for my Language Analysis essay?

Your introduction serves as a roadmap for your essay and should concisely outline the main contention of the text(s) you are analysing. You can also briefly include the context of the piece, and any key arguments. If you were given multiple pieces (including comments) to analyse you can also mention this, but there’s no need to write out every single contention.  

What is the recommended approach for structuring body paragraphs in a Language Analysis essay?

Body paragraphs are where the bulk of your analysis takes place. A recommended approach is to structure your essay by arguments or sub-arguments rather than chronologically or by techniques. Identify key points that support the author's contention and group them into paragraphs. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that clearly outlines the argument or sub-argument being discussed, followed by evidence from the text(s) and analysis. Ensure paragraphs flow logically and smoothly from one to the next.

How should I conclude my essay effectively?

Your conclusion should summarize the key points of your analysis without introducing new information. Reflect on the overall use of language to persuade the audience and restate the main contention of the text(s). You can also comment on major appeals or techniques used by the author and how they position the audience.

How can I ensure that my essay meets the necessary criteria for success?

Refer to the Language Analysis Checklist provided at the end of this article to ensure your essay covers all essential aspects. Pay attention to aspects such as length, structure, topic sentences, use of quotes, metalanguage, tone, visual analysis (if applicable), and comparative analysis.

How can I effectively analyze visual material in Language Analysis?

To analyze visual material effectively, consider its purpose, audience appeal, and any persuasive techniques employed. Use metalanguage to describe visual features and explain how they contribute to the overall argument. Examples of visual features include colour, line, shape, and size. Additionally, make connections between the written and visual elements where applicable.  

What strategies can I use to compare multiple texts in a Language Analysis essay?

To approach this effectively, identify common themes or arguments across the texts and group them into paragraphs based on these similarities. Use transition sentences to smoothly contrast the approaches of different authors within the same paragraph. Focus on analysing how each text employs language to persuade the audience while maintaining coherence and clarity in your analysis. 

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Analyzing the Body Language Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
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Introduction

Dr. martin luther king’s speech, alicia garza’s speech, comparison of the speeches by dr. martin luther king and alicia garza, significance of the location of speech delivery, the difference in the speeches and audience.

Social movements are groups of people who come together to express their interest in social change. The success of these movements is usually determined by the person leading them. A leader with good communication skills and who knows how to express his or her ideas is bound to attract more supporters and enact change. This essay summarises Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream”, and Alicia Garza’s speech on the Black Lives Matter movement and analyses the two leaders’ body language during the delivery.

Dr. Martin Luther King gave his speech “I Have a Dream” on August 28, 1963, at the steps of Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C, to finalize the march for jobs and freedom. He opens by saying he is glad to join the audience in demonstrating freedom. Dr. King notes how Black people are not entirely free despite Abraham Lincoln signing the emancipation proclamation 100 years before. Moreover, he states that when the nation’s founders drafted the constitution and declared independence, they promised each American. A promise that everyone has the same rights of life and liberty regardless of race (Card, 2018). He claims that the government has defaulted on the check that they have given the black citizens.

Furthermore, King cautions the people against engaging in any unlawful acts. He offers real proof that it was possible to achieve change without using violence by stating how he stood for peace amid the existence of much violence in civil rights movements and encouraged people to respect the whites who supported them. As he concludes, he speaks of his dream for the American nation and emphasizes that all races should live in peace and love.

Alicia Garza’s speech is on the topic of the Black Lives Matter movement. She says that Black people have not yet mattered in America and the world. She mainly talks about human rights violations, including issues of gender, police brutality, and racism (Clayton, 2018). For instance, she states that Black women earn much less than white women and Black transgender women have a life expectancy of thirty-five years.

Additionally, Garza emphasizes that the Black Lives Matter movement is an essential movement whose growth is due to the rise in the murder of black people. She also describes how her work at the National Domestic Workers Alliance contributes to the movement. She says that many domestic workers are Black immigrants whose rights are continuously disregarded by employers. She concludes her speech by saying that Black Lives Matter is a movement that was there to stay until the respect and dignity of Black lives is restored.

There are various parallels in the delivery of the two speeches. Both Alicia and Dr. King used facial expressions to convey their ideas and moved their hands to highlight crucial points. During discussions about the history of oppression or a negative experience, the expression on their faces showed they sympathized with the situation. In addition, at some point, their facial expressions showed hope of a happy ending after the war.

Moreover, there is strength and energy in Dr. King’s speech, which describes why audiences enjoy it. He delivered his message in a strong, projected voice with much enthusiasm to show the importance of each line in the speech. Conversely, Alicia Garza’s speech lacks the much-needed strength and enthusiasm present in Dr. King’s one. Also, her voice has no vitality, and the audience did not clap at each turn, as in Dr. King’s case.

The position Dr. King chose to deliver his speech was significant in promoting his message since Abraham Lincoln is known for his contribution to slave liberation. He chose the venue to show that the people and government should follow Lincoln’s declarations. Also, Dr. King delivered his speech in a church since he believed all humans are created equally by God, so slavery and hatred should not exist. King understood that these injustices do not conform with Biblical teachings and thus have to be eliminated.

Technology today has advanced, and ways of transmitting knowledge have also changed. There has been the evolution of powerful spaces such as social media to communicate and discuss issues easily. Therefore, choosing an avenue is crucial and makes a difference (Miller et al., 2021). Since Americans adore history, monuments to great leaders who championed freedom and equal rights are symbolic and legendary. It will pique many people’s interests if civil rights activists return to the exact location and deliver their speech where King did.

There is a wide- range of differences in the audiences of Dr. King and Alicia. The delivery form quickly linked Dr. King’s audience to the speech since he delivered with much energy, passion, and strength that infused people’s minds. On the other hand, Alicia’s audience does not have much interaction with her. Her voice is not very strong and compelling, and the listeners get easily bored. In conclusion, body language is crucial in speech delivery as it ensures the audience connects and relates to the speaker’s message.

The speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King and Alicia Garza highlight the issues being faced by Black people in America. Dr. King focuses mainly on freedom and equality for black Americans, while Alicia Garza mostly speaks against racism and police brutality. There are various similarities in the two leaders’ body language during speech delivery, such as a change in facial expression and movement of hands. However, there are key differences, ranging from the strength and vitality of their voices to the audience’s reaction to the speeches.

Card, M. M. (2018). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s” I Have a Dream” Speech: An Exploration and Analysis of Personal, Cultural, and Collective Complexes in the Foundation of the Dream and the Life of Dr. King. Journal of Heart-centred Therapies , 21 (2), 3-28. Web.

Clayton, D. M. (2018). Black lives matter and the civil rights movement: A comparative analysis of two social movements in the United States. Journal of Black Studies , 49 (5), 448-480. Web.

Miller, T., Aladro-Vico, E., & Requeijo-Rey, P. (2021). The Hero and the Shadow: Myths in Digital Social Movements. Comunicar: Media Education Research Journal , 29 (68), 9-20. Web.

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Bibliography

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Body language in the brain: constructing meaning from expressive movement

Christine m. tipper.

1 Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

2 Mental Health and Integrated Neurobehavioral Development Research Core, Child and Family Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Giulia Signorini

3 Psychiatric Epidemiology and Evaluation Unit, Saint John of God Clinical Research Center, Brescia, Italy

Scott T. Grafton

4 Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

This fMRI study investigated neural systems that interpret body language—the meaningful emotive expressions conveyed by body movement. Participants watched videos of performers engaged in modern dance or pantomime that conveyed specific themes such as hope, agony, lust, or exhaustion. We tested whether the meaning of an affectively laden performance was decoded in localized brain substrates as a distinct property of action separable from other superficial features, such as choreography, kinematics, performer, and low-level visual stimuli. A repetition suppression (RS) procedure was used to identify brain regions that decoded the meaningful affective state of a performer, as evidenced by decreased activity when emotive themes were repeated in successive performances. Because the theme was the only feature repeated across video clips that were otherwise entirely different, the occurrence of RS identified brain substrates that differentially coded the specific meaning of expressive performances. RS was observed bilaterally, extending anteriorly along middle and superior temporal gyri into temporal pole, medially into insula, rostrally into inferior orbitofrontal cortex, and caudally into hippocampus and amygdala. Behavioral data on a separate task indicated that interpreting themes from modern dance was more difficult than interpreting pantomime; a result that was also reflected in the fMRI data. There was greater RS in left hemisphere, suggesting that the more abstract metaphors used to express themes in dance compared to pantomime posed a greater challenge to brain substrates directly involved in decoding those themes. We propose that the meaning-sensitive temporal-orbitofrontal regions observed here comprise a superordinate functional module of a known hierarchical action observation network (AON), which is critical to the construction of meaning from expressive movement. The findings are discussed with respect to a predictive coding model of action understanding.

Introduction

Body language is a powerful form of non-verbal communication providing important clues about the intentions, emotions, and motivations of others. In the course of our everyday lives, we pick up information about what people are thinking and feeling through their body posture, mannerisms, gestures, and the prosody of their movements. This intuitive social awareness is an impressive feat of neural integration; the cumulative result of activity in distributed brain systems specialized for coding a wide range of social information. Reading body language is more than just a matter of perception. It entails not only recognizing and coding socially relevant visual information, but also ascribing meaning to those representations.

We know a great deal about brain systems involved in the perception of facial expressions, eye movements, body movement, hand gestures, and goal directed actions, as well as those mediating affective, decision, and motor responses to social stimuli. What is still missing is an understanding of how the brain “reads” body language. Beyond the decoding of body motion, what are the brain substrates directly involved in extracting meaning from affectively laden body expressions? The brain has several functionally specialized structures and systems for processing socially relevant perceptual information. A subcortical pulvinar-superior colliculus-amygdala-striatal circuit mediates reflex-like perception of emotion from body posture, particularly fear, and activates commensurate reflexive motor responses (Dean et al., 1989 ; Cardinal et al., 2002 ; Sah et al., 2003 ; de Gelder and Hadjikhani, 2006 ). A region of the occipital cortex known as the extrastriate body area (EBA) is sensitive to bodily form (Bonda et al., 1996 ; Hadjikhani and de Gelder, 2003 ; Astafiev et al., 2004 ; Peelen and Downing, 2005 ; Urgesi et al., 2006 ). The fusiform gyrus of the ventral occipital and temporal lobes has a critical role in processing faces and facial expressions (McCarthy et al., 1997 ; Hoffman and Haxby, 2000 ; Haxby et al., 2002 ). Posterior superior temporal sulcus is involved in perceiving the motion of biological forms in particular (Allison et al., 2000 ; Pelphrey et al., 2005 ). Somatosensory, ventromedial prefrontal, premotor, and insular cortex contribute to one's own embodied awareness of perceived emotional states (Adolphs et al., 2000 ; Damasio et al., 2000 ). Visuomotor processing in a functional brain network known as the action observation network (AON) codes observed action in distinct functional modules that together link the perception of action and emotional body language with ongoing behavioral goals and the formation of adaptive reflexes, decisions, and motor behaviors (Grafton et al., 1996 ; Rizzolatti et al., 1996b , 2001 ; Hari et al., 1998 ; Fadiga et al., 2000 ; Buccino et al., 2001 ; Grézes et al., 2001 ; Grèzes et al., 2001 ; Ferrari et al., 2003 ; Zentgraf et al., 2005 ; Bertenthal et al., 2006 ; de Gelder, 2006 ; Frey and Gerry, 2006 ; Ulloa and Pineda, 2007 ). Given all we know about how bodies, faces, emotions, and actions are perceived, one might expect a clear consensus on how meaning is derived from these percepts. Perhaps surprisingly, while we know these systems are crucial to integrating perceptual information with affective and motor responses, how the brain deciphers meaning based on body movement remains unknown. The focus of this investigation was to identify brain substrates that decode meaning from body movement, as evidenced by meaning-specific neural processing that differentiates body movements conveying distinct expressions.

To identify brain substrates sensitive to the meaningful emotive state of an actor conveyed through body movement, we used repetition suppression (RS) fMRI. This technique identifies regions of the brain that code for a particular stimulus dimension (e.g., shape) by revealing substrates that have different patterns of neural activity in response to different attributes of that dimension (e.g., circle, square, triangle; Grill-Spector et al., 2006 ). When a particular attribute is repeated, synaptic activity and the associated blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response decreases in voxels containing neuronal assemblies that code that attribute (Wiggs and Martin, 1998 ; Grill-Spector and Malach, 2001 ). We have used this method previously to show that various properties of an action such as movement kinematics, object goal, outcome, and context-appropriateness of action mechanics are uniquely coded by different neural substrates within a parietal-frontal action observation network (AON; Hamilton and Grafton, 2006 , 2007 , 2008 ; Ortigue et al., 2010 ). Here, we applied RS-fMRI to identify brain areas in which activity decreased when the meaningful emotive theme of an expressive performance was repeated between trials. The results demonstrate a novel coding function of the AON—decoding meaning from body language.

Working with a group of professional dancers, we produced a set of video clips in which performers intentionally expressed a particular meaningful theme either through dance or pantomime. Typical themes consisted of expressions of hope, agony, lust, or exhaustion. The experimental manipulation of theme was studied independently of choreography, performer, or camera viewpoint, which allowed us to repeat the meaning of a movement sequence from one trial to another while varying physical movement characteristics and perceptual features. With this RS-fMRI design, a decrease in BOLD activity for repeated relative to novel themes (RS) could not be attributed to specific movements, characteristics of the performer, “low-level” visual features, or the general process of attending to body expressions. Rather, RS revealed brain areas in which specific voxel-wise neural population codes differentiated meaningful expressions based on body movement (Figure ​ (Figure1 1 ).

Manipulating trial sequence to induce RS in brain regions that decode body language . The order of video presentation was controlled such that themes depicted in consecutive videos were either novel or repeated. Each consecutive video clip was unique; repeated themes were always portrayed by different dancers, different camera angles, or both. Thus, RS for repeated themes was not the result of low-level visual features, but rather identified brain areas that were sensitive to the specific meaningful theme conveyed by a performance. In brain regions showing RS, a particular affective theme—hope, for example—will evoke a particular pattern of neural activity. A novel theme on the subsequent trial—illness, for instance—will trigger a different but equally strong pattern of neural activity in distinct cell assemblies, resulting in an equivalent BOLD response. In contrast, a repetition of the hopefulness theme on the subsequent trial will trigger activity in the same neural assemblies as the first trial, but to a lesser extent, resulting in a reduced BOLD response for repeated themes. In this way, regions showing RS reveal regions that support distinct patterns of neural activity in response to different themes.

Participants were scanned using fMRI while viewing a series of 10-s video clips depicting modern dance or pantomime performances that conveyed specific meaningful themes. Because each performer had a unique artistic style, the same theme could be portrayed using completely different physical movements. This allowed the repetition of meaning while all other aspects of the physical stimuli varied from trial to trial. We predicted that specific regions of the AON engaged by observing expressive whole body movement would show suppressed BOLD activation for repeated relative to novel themes (RS). Brain regions showing RS would reveal brain substrates directly involved in decoding meaning based on body movement.

The dance and pantomime performances used here conveyed expressive themes through movement, but did not rely on typified, canonical facial expressions to invoke particular affective responses. Rather, meaningful themes were expressed with unique artistic choreography while facial expressions were concealed with a classic white mime's mask. The result was a subtle stimulus set that promoted thoughtful, interpretive viewing that could not elicit reflex-like responses based on prototypical facial expressions. In so doing, the present study shifted the focus away from automatic affective resonance toward a more deliberate ascertainment of meaning from movement.

While dance and pantomime both expressed meaningful emotive themes, the quality of movement and the types of gestures used were different. Pantomime sequences used fairly mundane gestures and natural, everyday movements. Dance sequences used stylized gestures and interpretive, prosodic movements. The critical distinction between these two types of expressive movement is in the degree of abstraction in the metaphors that link movement with meaning (see Morris, 2002 for a detailed discussion of movement metaphors). Pantomime by definition uses gesture to mimic everyday objects, situations, and behavior, and thus relies on relatively concrete movement metaphors. In contrast, dance relies on more abstract movement metaphors that draw on indirect associations between qualities of movement and the emotions and thoughts it evokes in a viewer. We predicted that since dance expresses meaning more abstractly than pantomime, dance sequences would be more difficult to interpret than pantomimed sequences, and would likewise pose a greater challenge to brain processes involved in decoding meaning from movement. Thus, we predicted greater involvement of thematic decoding areas for danced than for pantomimed movement expressions. Greater RS for dance than pantomime could result from dance triggering greater activity upon a first presentation, a greater reduction in activity with a repeated presentation, or some combination of both. Given our prediction that greater RS for dance would be linked to interpretive difficulty, we hypothesized it would be manifested as an increased processing demand resulting in greater initial BOLD activity for novel danced themes.

Participants

Forty-six neurologically healthy, right-handed individuals (30 women, mean age = 24.22 years, range = 19–55 years) provided written informed consent and were paid for their participation. Performers also agreed in writing to allow the use of their images and videos for scientific purposes. The protocol was approved by the Office of Research Human Subjects Committee at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB).

Eight themes were depicted, including four danced themes (happy, hopeful, fearful, and in agony) and four pantomimed themes (in love, relaxed, ill, and exhausted). Performance sequences were choreographed and performed by four professional dancers recruited from the SonneBlauma Danscz Theatre Company (Santa Barbara, California; now called ArtBark International, http://www.artbark.org/ ). Performers wore expressionless white masks so body language was conveyed though gestural whole-body movement as opposed to facial expressions. To express each theme, performers adopted an affective stance and improvised a short sequence of modern dance choreography (two themes per performer) or pantomime gestures (two themes per performer). Each of the eight themes were performed by two different dancers and recorded from two different camera angles, resulting in four distinct videos representing each theme (32 distinct videos in total; clips available in Supplementary Materials online).

Behavioral procedure

In a separate session outside the scanner either before or after fMRI data collection, an interpretation task measured observers' ability to discern the intended meaning of a performance (Figure ​ (Figure2). 2 ). The interpretation task was carried out in a separate session to avoid confounding movement observation in the scanner with explicit decision-making and overt motor responses. Participants were asked to view each video clip and choose from a list of four options the theme that best corresponded with the movement sequence they had just watched. Responses were made by pressing one of four corresponding buttons on a keyboard. Two behavioral measures were collected to assess how well participants interpreted the intended meaning of expressive performances. Consistency scores reflected the proportion of observers' interpretations that matched the performer's intended expression. Response times indicated the time taken to make interpretive judgments. In order to encourage subjects to use their initial impressions and to avoid over-deliberating, the four response options were previewed briefly immediately prior to video presentation.

Experimental testing procedure . Participants completed a thematic interpretation task outside the scanner, either before or after the imaging session. Performance on this task allowed us to test whether there was a difference in how readily observers interpreted the intended meaning conveyed through dance or pantomime. Any performance differences on this explicit theme judgment task could help interpret the functional significance of observed differences in brain activity associated with passively viewing the two types of movement in the scanner.

For the interpretation task collected outside the scanner, videos were presented and responses collected on a Mac Powerbook G4 laptop programmed using the Psychtoolbox (v. 3.0.8) extension (Brainard, 1997 ; Pelli and Brainard, 1997 ) for Mac OSX running under Matlab 7.5 R2007b (the MathWorks, Natick, MA). Each trial began with the visual presentation of a list of four theme options corresponding to four button press responses (“u,” “i,” “o,” or “p” keyboard buttons). This list remained on the screen for 3 s, the screen blanked for 750 ms, and then the movie played for 10 s. Following the presentation of the movie, the four response options were presented again, and remained on the screen until a response was made. Each unique video was presented twice, resulting in 64 trials total. Video order was randomized for each participant, and the response options for each trial included the intended theme and three randomly selected alternatives.

Neuroimaging procedure

fMRI data were collected with a Siemens 3.0 T Magnetom Tim Trio system using a 12-channel phased array head coil. Functional images were acquired with a T2 * weighted single shot gradient echo, echo-planar sequence sensitive to Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) contrast (TR = 2 s; TE = 30 ms; FA = 90°; FOV = 19.2 cm). Each volume consisted of 37 slices acquired parallel to the AC–PC plane (interleaved acquisition; 3 mm thick with 0.5 mm gap; 3 × 3 mm in-plane resolution; 64 × 64 matrix).

Each participant completed four functional scanning runs lasting approximately 7.5 min while viewing danced or acted expressive movement sequences. While there were a total of eight themes in the stimulus set for the study, each scanning run depicted only two of those eight themes. Over the course of all four scanning runs, all eight themes were depicted. Trial sequences were arranged such that theme of a movement sequence was either novel or repeated with respect to the previous trial. This allowed for the analysis of BOLD response RS for repeated vs. novel themes. Each run presented 24 video clips (3 presentations of 8 unique videos depicting 2 themes × 2 dancers × 2 camera angles). Novel and repeated themes were intermixed within each scanning run, with no more than three sequential repetitions of the same theme. Two scanning runs depicted dance and two runs depicted pantomime performances. The order of runs was randomized for each participant. The experiment was controlled using Presentation software (version 13.0, Neurobehavioral Systems Inc, CA). Participants were instructed to focus on the movement performance while viewing the videos. No specific information about the themes portrayed or types of movement used was provided, and no motor responses were required.

For the behavioral data collected outside the scanner, mean consistency scores and mean response time (RT; ms) were computed for each participant. Consistency and RT were each submitted to an ANOVA with Movement Type (dance vs. pantomime) as a within-subjects factor using Stata/IC 10.0 for Macintosh.

Statistical analysis of the neuroimaging data was organized to identify: (1) brain areas responsive to the observation of expressive movement sequences, defined by BOLD activity relative to an implicit baseline, (2) brain areas directly involved in decoding meaning from movement, defined by RS for repeated themes, (3) brain areas in which processes for decoding thematic meaning varied as a function of abstractness, defined by greater RS for danced than pantomimed themes, and (4) the specific pattern of BOLD activity differences for novel and repeated themes as a function of danced or pantomimed movements in regions showing greater RS for dance.

The fMRI data were analyzed using Statistical Parametric Mapping software (SPM5, Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, London; www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm ) implemented in Matlab 7.5 R2007b (The MathWorks, Natick, MA). Individual scans were realigned, slice-time corrected and spatially normalized to the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) template in SPM5 with a resampled resolution of 3 × 3 × 3 mm. A smoothing kernel of 8 mm was applied to the functional images. A general linear model was created for each participant using SPM5. Parameter estimates of event-related BOLD activity were computed for novel and repeated themes depicted by danced and pantomimed movements, separately for each scanning run, for each participant.

Because the intended theme of each movement sequence was not expressed at a discrete time point but rather throughout the duration of the 10 s video clip, the most appropriate hemodynamic response function (HRF) with which to model the BOLD response at the individual level was determined empirically prior to parameter estimation. Of interest was whether the shape of the BOLD response to these relatively long video clips differed from the canonical HRF typically implemented in SPM. The shape of the BOLD response was estimated for each participant by modeling a finite impulse response function (Ollinger et al., 2001 ). Each trial was represented by a sequence of 12 consecutive TRs, beginning at the onset of each video clip. Based on this deconvolution, a set of beta weights describing the shape of the response over a 24 s interval was obtained for both novel and repeated themes depicted by both danced and pantomimed movement sequences. To determine whether adjustments should be made to the canonical HRF implemented in SPM, the BOLD responses of a set of 45 brain regions within a known AON were evaluated (see Table ​ Table1 1 for a complete list). To find the most representative shape of the BOLD response within the AON, deconvolved beta weights for each condition were averaged across sessions and collapsed by singular value decomposition analysis (Golub and Reinsch, 1970 ). This resulted in a characteristic signal shape that maximally described the actual BOLD response in AON regions for both novel and repeated themes, for both danced and pantomimed sequences. This examination of the BOLD response revealed that its time-to-peak was delayed 4 s compared to the canonical HRF response curve typically implemented in SPM. That is, the peak of the BOLD response was reached at 8–10 s following stimulus onset instead of the canonical 4–6 s. Given this result, parameter estimation for conditions of interest in our main analysis was based on a convolution of the design matrix for each participant with a custom HRF that accounted for the observed 4 s delay. Time-to-peak of the HRF was adjusted from 6 to 10 s while keeping the same overall width and height of the canonical function implemented in SPM. Using this custom HRF, the 10 s video duration was modeled as usual in SPM by convolving the HRF with a 10 s boxcar function.

The action observation network, as defined by previous investigations .

The first 26 regions were drawn from studies of prehensile reaching and grasping hand movements. The remaining 19 regions listed were drawn from studies of dance observation. Peak voxel coordinates from these studies were used to create 10 mm spherical regions of interest. The time-course of BOLD responses in these AON regions during expressive movement observation was assessed, and provided the basis for determining the most appropriate hemodynamic response function with which to model a whole-brain RS analysis. BA, Brodmann Area; Hemi, Hemisphere; L, left; R, right. MNI coordinates are in millimeters: x = distance right (+) or left (−) to the mid-sagittal plane; y = distance anterior (+) or posterior (−) to vertical plane through anterior commissure; z = distance above (+) or below (−) intercommisural (AC–PC) line .

Second-level whole-brain analysis was conducted with SPM8 using a 2 × 2 random effects model with Movement Type and Repetition as within-subject factors using the weighted parameter estimates (contrast images) obtained at the individual level as data. A gray matter mask was applied to whole-brain contrast images prior to second-level analysis to remove white matter voxels from the analysis. Six second-level contrasts were computed, including (1) expressive movement observation (BOLD relative to baseline), (2) dance observation effect (danced sequences > pantomimed sequences), (3) pantomime observation effect (pantomimed sequences > danced sequences), (4) RS (novel themes > repeated themes), (5) dance × repetition interaction (RS for dance > RS for pantomime), and (6) pantomime x repetition interaction (RS for pantomime > RS for dance). Following the creation of T-map images in SPM8, FSL was used to create Z-map images (Version 4.1.1; Analysis Group, FMRIB, Oxford, UK; Smith et al., 2004 ; Jenkinson et al., 2012 ). The results were thresholded at p < 0.05, cluster-corrected using FSL subroutines based on Gaussian random field theory (Poldrack et al., 2011 ; Nichols, 2012 ). To examine the nature of the differences in RS between dance and pantomime, a mask image was created based on the corresponding cluster-thresholded Z-map of regions showing greater RS for dance, and the mean BOLD activity (contrast image values) was computed for novel and repeated dance and pantomime contrasts from each participant's first-level analysis. Mean BOLD activity measures were submitted to a 2 × 2 ANOVA with Movement Type (dance vs. pantomime) and Repetition (novel vs. repeat) as within-subjects factors using Stata/IC 10.0 for Macintosh.

In order to ensure that observed RS effects for repeated themes were not due to low-level kinematic effects, a motion tracking analysis of all 32 videos was performed using Tracker 4.87 software for Mac (written by Douglas Brown, distributed on the Open Source Physics platform, www.opensourcephysics.org ). A variety of motion parameters, including velocity, acceleration, momentum, and kinetic energy, were computed within the Tracker software based on semi-automated/supervised motion tracking of the top of the head, one hand, and one foot of each performer. The key question relevant to our results was whether there was a difference in motion between videos depicting novel and repeated themes. One factor ANOVAs for each motion parameter revealed no significant differences in coarse kinematic profiles between “novel” and “repeated” theme trials (all p 's > 0.05). This was not particularly surprising given that all videos were used for both novel and repeated themes, which were defined entirely based on trial sequence). In contrast, the comparison between danced and pantomimed themes did reveal significant differences in kinematic profiles. A 2 × 3 ANOVA with Movement Type (Dance, Pantomime) and Body Point (Hand, Head, Foot) as factors was conducted for each motion parameter (velocity, acceleration, momentum, and kinetic energy), and revealed greater motion energy on all parameters for the danced themes compared to the pantomimed themes (all p 's < 0.05). Any differences in RS between danced and pantomimed themes may therefore be attributed to differences in kinematic properties of body movement. Importantly, however, because there were no systematic differences in motion kinematics between novel and repeated themes, any RS effects for repeated themes could not be attributed to the effect of motion kinematics.

Figure ​ Figure3 3 illustrates the behavioral results of the interpretation task completed outside the scanner. Participants had higher consistency scores for pantomimed movements than danced movements [ F (1, 42) = 42.06, p < 0.0001], indicating better transmission of the intended expressive meaning from performer to viewer. Pantomimed sequences were also interpreted more quickly than danced sequences [ F (1, 42) = 27.28, p < 0.0001], suggesting an overall performance advantage for pantomimed sequences.

Behavioral performance on the theme judgment task . Participants more readily interpreted pantomime than dance. This was evidenced by both greater consistency between the meaningful theme intended to be expressed by the performer and the interpretive judgments made by the observer (left), and faster response times (right). This pattern of results suggests that dance was more difficult to interpret than pantomime, perhaps owing to the use of more abstract metaphors to link movement with meaning. Pantomime, on the other hand, relied on more concrete, mundane sorts of movements that were more likely to carry meaningful associations based on observers' prior everyday experience. SEM, standard error of the mean.

Expressive whole-body movements engage the action observation network

Brain activity associated with the observation of expressive movement sequences was revealed by significant BOLD responses to observing both dance and pantomime movement sequences, relative to the inter-trial resting baseline. Figure ​ Figure4 4 depicts significant activation ( p < 0.05, cluster corrected in FSL) rendered on an inflated cortical surface of the Human PALS-B12 Atlas (Van Essen, 2005 ) using Caret (Version 5. 61; http://www.nitrc.org/projects/caret ; Van Essen et al., 2001 ). Table ​ Table2 2 presents the MNI coordinates for selected voxels within clusters active during movement observation, as labeled in Figure ​ Figure4. 4 . Region names were obtained from the Harvard-Oxford Cortical and Subcortical Structural Atlases (Frazier et al., 2005 ; Desikan et al., 2006 ; Makris et al., 2006 ; Goldstein et al., 2007 ; Harvard Center for Morphometric Analysis; www.partners.org/researchcores/imaging/morphology_MGH.asp ), and Brodmann Area labels were obtained from the Juelich Histological Atlas (Eickhoff et al., 2005 , 2006 , 2007 ), as implemented in FSL. Observation of body movement was associated with robust BOLD activation encompassing cortex typically associated with the AON, including fronto-parietal regions linked to the representation of action kinematics, goals, and outcomes (Hamilton and Grafton, 2006 , 2007 ), as well as temporal, occipital, and insular cortex and subcortical regions including amygdala and hippocampus—regions typically associated with language comprehension (Kirchhoff et al., 2000 ; Ni et al., 2000 ; Friederici et al., 2003 ) and socio-affective information processing and decision-making (Anderson et al., 1999 ; Adolphs et al., 2003 ; Bechara et al., 2003 ; Bechara and Damasio, 2005 ).

Expressive performances engage the action observation network . Viewing expressive whole-body movement sequences engaged a distributed cortical action observation network ( p < 0.05, FWE corrected). Large areas of parietal, temporal, frontal, and insular cortex included somatosensory, motor, and premotor regions that have been considered previously to comprise a human “mirror neuron” system, as well as non-motor areas linked to comprehension, social perception, and affective decision-making. Number labels correspond to those listed in Table ​ Table2, 2 , which provides anatomical names and voxel coordinates for areas of peak activation. Dotted line for regions 17/18 indicates medial temporal position not visible on the cortical surface.

Brain regions showing a significant BOLD response while participants viewed expressive whole-body movement sequences .

BOLD activations (p < 0.05, corrected FWE) were distributed throughout the AON. Voxel coordinates listed were determined by visual inspection of peak activity in selected clusters. “Label” column refers to the corresponding brain region highlighted in Figure ​ Figure4. 4 . BA, Brodmann Area; Hemi, Hemisphere; L, left; R, right. MNI coordinates are in millimeters: x = distance right (+) or left (−) to the mid-sagittal plane; y = distance anterior (+) or posterior (−) to vertical plane through anterior commissure; z = distance above (+) or below (−) intercommisural (AC–PC) line .

The action observation network “reads” body language

To isolate brain areas that decipher meaning conveyed by expressive body movement, regions showing RS (reduced BOLD activity for repeated compared to novel themes) were identified. Since theme was the only stimulus dimension repeated systematically across trials for this comparison, decreased activation for repeated themes could not be attributed to physical features of the stimulus such as particular movements, performers, or camera viewpoints. Figure ​ Figure5 5 illustrates brain areas showing significant suppression for repeated themes ( p < 0.05, cluster corrected in FSL). Table ​ Table3 3 presents the MNI coordinates for selected voxels within significant clusters. RS was found bilaterally on the rostral bank of the middle temporal gyrus extending into temporal pole and orbitofrontal cortex. There was also significant suppression in bilateral amygdala and insular cortex.

BOLD suppression (RS) reveals brain substrates for “reading” body language . Regions involved in decoding meaning in body language showing were isolated by testing for BOLD suppression when the intended theme of an expressive performance was repeated across trials. To identify regions showing RS, BOLD activity associated with novel themes was contrasted with BOLD activity associated with repeated themes ( p < 0.05, cluster corrected in FSL). Significantly greater activity for novel relative to repeated themes was evidence of RS. Given that the intended theme of a performance was the only element that was repeated between trials, regions showing RS revealed brain substrates that were sensitive to the specific meaning infused into a movement sequence by a performer. Number labels correspond to those listed in Table ​ Table3, 3 , which provides anatomical names and voxel coordinates for key clusters showing significant RS. Blue shaded area indicates vertical extent of axial slices shown.

Brain regions showing significant BOLD suppression for repeated themes ( p < 0.05, cluster corrected in FSL) .

Voxel coordinates listed were determined by visual inspection of peak activity in selected clusters. “Label” column refers to the corresponding brain region highlighted in Figure ​ Figure5. 5 . BA, Brodmann area; Hemi, Hemisphere; L, left; R, right. MNI coordinates are in millimeters: x = distance right (+) or left (−) to the mid-sagittal plane; y = distance anterior (+) or posterior (−) to vertical plane through anterior commissure; z = distance above (+) or below (−) intercommisural (AC–PC) line .

Movement abstractness challenges brain substrates that decode meaning

The behavioral analysis indicated that interpreting danced themes was more difficult than interpreting pantomimed themes, as evidenced by lower consistency scores and greater RTs. Previous research indicates that greater difficulty discriminating a particular stimulus dimension is associated with greater BOLD suppression upon repetition of that dimension's attributes (Hasson et al., 2006 ). To test whether greater difficulty decoding meaning from dance than pantomime would also be associated with greater RS in the present data, the magnitude of BOLD response suppression was compared between movement types. This was done with the Dance × Repetition interaction contrast in the second-level whole brain analysis, which revealed regions that had greater RS for dance than for pantomime. Figure ​ Figure6 6 illustrates brain regions showing greater RS for themes portrayed through dance than pantomime ( p < 0.05, cluster corrected in FSL). Significant differences were entirely left-lateralized in superior and middle temporal gyri, extending into temporal pole and orbitofrontal cortex, and also present in laterobasal amygdala and the cornu ammonis of the hippocampus. Table ​ Table4 4 presents the MNI coordinates for selected voxels within significant clusters. The reverse Pantomime × Repetition interaction was also tested, but did not reveal any regions showing greater RS for pantomime than dance ( p > 0.05, cluster corrected in FSL).

Regions showing greater RS for dance than pantomime . RS effects were compared between movement types. This was implemented as an interaction contrast within our Movement Type × Repetition ANOVA design [(Novel Dance > Repeated Dance) > (Novel Pantomime > Repeated Pantomime)]. Greater RS for dance was lateralized to left hemisphere meaning-sensitive regions. The brain areas shown here have been linked previously to the comprehension of meaning in verbal language, suggesting the possibility they represent shared brain substrates for building meaning from both language and action. Number labels correspond to those listed in Table ​ Table4, 4 , which provides anatomical names and voxel coordinates for key clusters showing significantly greater RS for dance. Blue shaded area indicates vertical extent of axial slices shown.

Brain regions showing significantly greater RS for themes expressed through dance relative to themes expressed through pantomime ( p < 0.05, cluster corrected in FSL) .

Voxel coordinates listed were determined by visual inspection of peak activity in selected clusters. “Label” column refers to the corresponding brain region highlighted in Figure ​ Figure6. 6 . BA, Brodmann Area; Hemi, hemisphere; L, left; R, right. MNI coordinates are in millimeters: x = distance right (+) or left (−) to the mid-sagittal plane; y = distance anterior (+) or posterior (−) to vertical plane through anterior commissure; z = distance above (+) or below (−) intercommisural (AC–PC) line .

In regions showing greater RS for dance than pantomime, mean BOLD responses for novel and repeated dance and pantomime conditions were computed across voxels for each participant based on their first-level contrast images. This was done to test whether the greater RS for dance was due to greater activity in the novel condition, lower activity in the repeated condition, or some combination of both. Figure ​ Figure7 7 illustrates a pattern of BOLD activity across conditions demonstrates that the greater RS for dance was the result of greater initial BOLD activation in response to novel themes. The ANOVA results showed a significant Movement Type × Repetition interaction [ F (1, 42) = 7.83, p < 0.01], indicating that BOLD activity in response to novel danced themes was greater than BOLD activity for all other conditions in these regions.

Novel danced themes challenge brain substrates that decode meaning from movement . To determine the specific pattern of BOLD activity that resulted in greater RS for dance, average BOLD activity in these areas was computed for each condition separately. Greater RS for dance was driven by a larger BOLD response to novel danced themes. Considered together with behavioral findings indicating that dance was more difficult to interpret, greater RS for dance seems to result from a greater processing “challenge” to brain substrates involved in decoding meaning from movement. SEM, standard error of the mean.

This study was designed to reveal brain regions involved in reading body language—the meaningful information we pick up about the affective states and intentions of others based on their body movement. Brain regions that decoded meaning from body movement were identified with a whole brain analysis of RS that compared BOLD activity for novel and repeated themes expressed through modern dance or pantomime. Significant RS for repeated themes was observed bilaterally, extending anteriorly along middle and superior temporal gyri into temporal pole, medially into insula, rostrally into inferior orbitofrontal cortex, and caudally into hippocampus and amygdala. Together, these brain substrates comprise a functional system within the larger AON. This suggests strongly that decoding meaning from expressive body movement constitutes a dimension of action representation not previously isolated in studies of action understanding. In the following we argue that this embedding is consistent with the hierarchical organization of the AON.

Body language as superordinate in a hierarchical action observation network

Previous investigations of action understanding have identified the AON as a key a cognitive system for the organization of action in general, highlighting the fact that both performing and observing action rely on many of the same brain substrates (Grafton, 2009 ; Ortigue et al., 2010 ; Kilner, 2011 ; Ogawa and Inui, 2011 ; Uithol et al., 2011 ; Grafton and Tipper, 2012 ). Shared brain substrates for controlling one's own action and understanding the actions of others are often taken as evidence of a “mirror neuron system” (MNS), following from physiological studies showing that cells in area F5 of the macaque monkey premotor cortex fired in response to both performing and observing goal-directed actions (Pellegrino et al., 1992 ; Gallese et al., 1996 ; Rizzolatti et al., 1996a ). Since these initial observations were made regarding monkeys, there has been a tremendous effort to characterize a human analog of the MNS, and incorporate it into theories of not only action understanding, but also social cognition, language development, empathy, and neuropsychiatric disorders in which these faculties are compromised (Gallese and Goldman, 1998 ; Rizzolatti and Arbib, 1998 ; Rizzolatti et al., 2001 ; Gallese, 2003 ; Gallese et al., 2004 ; Rizzolatti and Craighero, 2004 ; Iacoboni et al., 2005 ; Tettamanti et al., 2005 ; Dapretto et al., 2006 ; Iacoboni and Dapretto, 2006 ; Shapiro, 2008 ; Decety and Ickes, 2011 ). A fundamental assumption common to all such theories is that mirror neurons provide a direct neural mechanism for action understanding through “motor resonance,” or the simulation of one's own motor programs for an observed action (Jacob, 2008 ; Oosterhof et al., 2013 ). One proposed mechanism for action understanding through motor resonance is the embodiment of sensorimotor associations between action goals and specific motor behaviors (Mitz et al., 1991 ; Niedenthal et al., 2005 ; McCall et al., 2012 ). While the involvement of the motor system in a range of social, cognitive and affective domains is certainly worthy of focused investigation, and mirror neurons may well play an important role in supporting such “embodied cognition,” this by no means implies that mirror neurons alone can account for the ability to garner meaning from observed body movement.

Since the AON is a distributed cortical network that extends beyond motor-related brain substrates engaged during action observation, it is best characterized not as a homogeneous “mirroring” mechanism, but rather as a collection of functionally specific but interconnected modules that represent distinct properties of observed actions (Grafton, 2009 ; Grafton and Tipper, 2012 ). The present results build on this functional-hierarchical model of the AON by incorporating meaningful expression as an inherent aspect of body movement that is decoded in distinct regions of the AON. In other words, the bilateral temporal-orbitofrontal regions that showed RS for repeated themes comprise a distinct functional module of the AON that supports an additional level of the action representation hierarchy. Such an interpretation is consistent with the idea that action representation is inherently nested, carried out within a hierarchy of part-whole processes for which higher levels depend on lower levels (Cooper and Shallice, 2006 ; Botvinick, 2008 ; Grafton and Tipper, 2012 ). We propose that the meaning infused into the body movement of a person having a particular affective stance is decoded superordinately to more concrete properties of action, such as kinematics and object goals. Under this view, while decoding these representationally subordinate properties of action may involve motor-related brain substrates, decoding “body language” engages non-motor regions of the AON that link movement and meaning, relying on inputs from lower levels of the action representation hierarchy that provide information about movement kinematics, prosodic nuances, and dynamic inflections.

While the present results suggest that the temporal-orbitofrontal regions identified here as decoding meaning from emotive body movement constitute a distinct functional module within a hierarchically organized AON, it is important to note that these regions have not previously been included in anatomical descriptions of the AON. The present study, however, isolated a property of action representation that had not been previously investigated; so identifying regions of the AON not previously included in its functional-anatomic definition is perhaps not surprising. This underscores the important point that the AON is functionally defined, such that its apparent anatomical extent in a given experimental context depends upon the particular aspects of action representation that are engaged and isolable. Previous studies of another abstract property of action representation, namely intention understanding, also illustrate this point. Inferring the intentions of an actor engages medial prefrontal cortex, bilateral posterior superior temporal sulcus, and left temporo-parietal junction—non-motor regions of the brain typically associated with “mentalizing,” or thinking about the mental states of another agent (Ansuini et al., 2015 ; Ciaramidaro et al., 2014 ). A key finding of this research is that intention understanding depends fundamentally on the integration of motor-related (“mirroring”) brain regions and non-motor (“mentalizing”) brain regions (Becchio et al., 2012 ). The present results parallel this finding, and point to the idea that in the context of action representation, motor and non-motor brain areas are not two separate brain networks, but rather one integrated functional system.

Predictive coding and the construction of meaning in the action observation network

A critical question raised by the idea that the temporal-orbitofrontal brain regions in which RS was observed here constitute a superordinate, meaning-sensitive functional module of the AON is how activity in subordinate AON modules is integrated at this higher level to produce differential neural firing patterns in response to different meaningful body expressions. That is, what are the neural mechanisms underlying the observed sensitivity to meaning in body language, and furthermore, why are these mechanisms subject to adaptation through repetition (RS)? While the present results do not provide direct evidence to answer these questions, we propose that a “predictive coding” interpretation provides a coherent model of action representation (Brass et al., 2007 ; Kilner and Frith, 2008 ; Brown and Brüne, 2012 ) that yields useful predictions about the neural processes by which meaning is decoded that would account for the observed RS effect. The primary mechanism invoked by a predictive coding framework of action understanding is recurrent feed-forward and feedback processing across the various levels of the AON, which supports a Bayesian system of predictive neural coding, feedback processes, and prediction error reduction at each level of action representation (Friston et al., 2011 ). According to this model, each level of the action observation hierarchy generates predictions to anticipate neural activity at lower levels of the hierarchy. Predictions in the form of neural codes are sent to lower levels through feedback connections, and compared with actual subordinate neural representations. Any discrepancy between neural predictions and actual representations are coded as prediction error. Information regarding prediction error is sent through recurrent feed-forward projections to superordinate regions, and used to update predictive priors such that subsequent prediction error is minimized. Together, these Bayes-optimal neural ensemble operations converge on the most probable inference for representation at the superordinate level (Friston et al., 2011 ) and, ultimately, action understanding based on the integration of representations at each level of the action observation hierarchy (Chambon et al., 2011 ; Kilner, 2011 ).

A predictive coding account of the present results would suggest that initial feed-forward inputs from subordinate levels of the AON provided the superordinate temporal-orbitofrontal module with information regarding movement kinematics, prosody, gestural elements, and dynamic inflections, which, when integrated with other inputs based on prior experience, would provide a basis for an initial prediction about potential meanings of a body expression. This prediction would yield a generative neural model about the movement dynamics that would be expected given the predicted meaning of the observed body expression, which would be fed back to lower levels of the network that coded movement dynamics and sensorimotor associations. Predictive activity would be contrasted with actual representations as movement information was accrued throughout the performance, and the resulting prediction error would be utilized via feed-forward projections to temporal-orbitofrontal regions to update predictive codes regarding meaning and minimize subsequent prediction error. In this way, the meaningful affective theme being expressed by the performer would be converged upon through recurrent Bayes-optimal neural ensemble operations. Thus, meaning expressed through body language would be accrued iteratively in temporal-orbitofrontal regions by integrating neural representations of various facets of action decoded throughout the AON. Interestingly, and consistent with a model in which an iterative process accrued information over time, we observed that BOLD responses in AON regions peaked more slowly than expected based on SPM's canonical HRF as the videos were viewed over an extended (10 s) duration. Under an iterative predictive coding model, RS for repeated themes could be accounted for by reduced initial generative activity in temporal-orbitofrontal regions due to better constrained predictions about potential meanings conveyed by observed movement, more efficient convergence on an inference due to faster minimization of prediction error, or some combination of both of these mechanisms. The present results provide indirect evidence for the former account, in that more abstract, less constrained movement metaphors relied upon by expressive dance resulted in greater RS due to larger BOLD responses for novel themes relative to the more concrete, better-constrained associations conveyed by pantomime.

Shared brain substrates for meaning in action and language

The middle temporal gyrus and superior temporal sulcus regions identified here as part of a functional module of the AON that “reads” body language have been linked previously to a variety of high-level linguistic domains related to understanding meaning. Among these are conceptual knowledge (Lambon Ralph et al., 2009 ), language comprehension (Hasson et al., 2006 ; Noppeney and Penny, 2006 ; Price, 2010 ), sensitivity to the congruency between intentions and actions, both verbal/conceptual (Deen and McCarthy, 2010 ), and perceptual/implicit (Wyk et al., 2009 ), as well as understanding abstract language and metaphorical descriptions of action (Desai et al., 2011 ). While together these studies demonstrate that high-level linguistic processing involves bilateral superior and middle temporal regions, there is evidence for a general predominance of the left hemisphere in comprehending semantics (Price, 2010 ), and a predominance of the right hemisphere in incorporating socio-emotional information and affective context (Wyk et al., 2009 ). For example, brain atrophy associated with a primary progressive aphasia characterized by profound disturbances in semantic comprehension occurs bilaterally in anterior middle temporal regions, but is more pronounced in the left hemisphere (Gorno-Tempini et al., 2004 ). In contrast, neural degeneration in right hemisphere orbitofrontal, insula, and anterior middle temporal regions is associated not only with semantic dementia but also deficits in socio-emotional sensitivity and regulation (Rosen et al., 2005 ).

This hemispheric asymmetry in brain substrates associated with interpreting meaning in verbal language is paralleled in the present results, which not only link the same bilateral temporal-orbitofrontal brain substrates to comprehending meaning from affectively expressive body language, but also demonstrate a predominance of the left hemisphere in deciphering the particularly abstract movement metaphors conveyed by dance. This asymmetry was evident as greater RS for repeated themes for dance relative to pantomime, which was driven by a greater initial activation for novel themes, suggesting that these left-hemisphere regions were engaged more vigorously when decoding more abstract movement metaphors. Together, these results illustrate a striking overlap in the brain substrates involved in processing meaning in verbal language and decoding meaning from expressive body movement. This overlap suggests that a long-hypothesized evolutionary link between gestural body movement and language (Hewes et al., 1973 ; Harnad et al., 1976 ; Rizzolatti and Arbib, 1998 ; Corballis, 2003 ) may be instantiated by a network of shared brain substrates for representing semiotic structure, which constitutes the informational scaffolding for building meaning in both language and gesture (Lemke, 1987 ; Freeman, 1997 ; McNeill, 2012 ; Lhommet and Marsella, 2013 ). While speculative, under this view the temporal-orbitofrontal AON module for coding meaning observed may provide a neural basis for semiosis (the construction of meaning), which would lend support to the intriguing philosophical argument that meaning is fundamentally grounded in processes of the body, brain, and the social environment within which they are immersed (Thibault, 2004 ).

Summary and conclusions

The present results identify a system of temporal, orbitofrontal, insula, and amygdala brain regions that supports the meaningful interpretation of expressive body language. We propose that these areas reveal a previously undefined superordinate functional module within a known, stratified hierarchical brain network for action representation. The findings are consistent with a predictive coding model of action understanding, wherein the meaning that is imbued into expressive body movements through subtle kinematics and prosodic nuances is decoded as a distinct property of action via feed-forward and feedback processing across the levels of a hierarchical AON. Under this view, recurrent processing loops integrate lower-level representations of movement dynamics and socio-affective perceptual information to generate, evaluate, and update predictive inferences about expressive content that are mediated in a superordinate temporal-orbitofrontal module of the AON. Thus, while lower-level action representation in motor-related brain areas (sometimes referred to as a human “mirror neuron system”) may be a key step in the construction of meaning from movement, it is not these motor areas that code the specific meaning of an expressive body movement. Rather, we have demonstrated an additional level of the cortical action representation hierarchy in non-motor regions of the AON. The results highlight an important link between action representation and language, and point to the possibility of shared brain substrates for constructing meaning in both domains.

Author contributions

CT, GS, and SG designed the experiment. CT and GS created stimuli, which included recruiting professional dancers and filming expressive movement sequences. GS carried out video editing. CT completed computer programming for experimental control and data analysis. GS and CT recruited participants and conducted behavioral and fMRI testing. CT and SG designed the data analysis and CT and GS carried it out. GS conducted a literature review, and CT wrote the paper with reviews and edits from SG.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

Research supported by the James S. McDonnell Foundation.

Supplementary material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1508616

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Body Language

The surprising power of body language, nonverbal communication is complex and sometimes mysterious..

Posted April 14, 2021 | Reviewed by Davia Sills

• Body language is complex: Charisma and physical attractiveness are both affected by how we communicate without words.
• Subtle, nonverbal cues can have a big impact on how we perceive and evaluate others.
• We can be affected by others' nonverbal behavior and be completely unaware of it.

Here are four studies that illustrate the surprising power and complexity of nonverbal behavior.

Study 1: A man’s body language can actually make a woman more attractive.

In a clever study by social psychologists Mark Snyder, Beth Tanke, and Ellen Berscheid, men were led to believe that they were talking on the telephone with either an attractive or an unattractive woman (they were shown fake photographs). The nonverbal behavior of the women was measured during the phone conversation. If the men believed they were talking to an attractive woman, their belief was conveyed through tone of voice to the woman, who then began behaving in a more sexually attractive manner.

Women in the physically attractive condition were rated by others as more sociable, sexually warm, and poised than were women whose callers thought they were unattractive. Essentially, the men were able to convey to the women their beliefs about the women’s attractiveness entirely through nonverbal vocal cues. The women then responded accordingly with their own nonverbal behavior.

The lesson: Positive expectations matter.

This research is consistent with the well-known Pygmalion Effect , which states that our expectations about others can be subtly conveyed through nonverbal cues. In the classic Pygmalion study, school children whose teachers thought they were smarter than the others (they were actually randomly assigned) actually performed better academically due to the teacher’s expectations. In the same way, the male callers’ impressions were subtly conveyed to the women via nonverbal cues.

Study 2: Misreading a smile can lead to trouble.

This clever study advertised for a job as a research assistant. Fifty young women applied and were interviewed. In one condition, some sexually provocative questions were interspersed with typical job interview questions (e.g., "Do you have a boyfriend?"). The women were videotaped, and their facial expressions were analyzed.

Analysis of the videos found that women often smiled in response to the sexually provocative questions, but the smiles were not of enjoyment but "fake" smiles associated with discomfort. Debriefings with the participants found that many of the female interviewees felt that they had to "grin and bear it." Unsurprisingly, when the interviewees' videos were later rated by management students, those in the sexual harassment condition were rated as performing more poorly than in the non-harassment condition.

But here is the kicker: The researchers showed silent videotapes of the women's uncomfortable, fake smiles while being harassed (along with more genuine smiles and non-smiling clips) to men, who rated the smiling women. Beforehand, the men were given a scale that predicts likelihood to sexually harass. Men with a tendency to sexually harass were more likely to rate the uncomfortable smiles as "flirtatious" and rate them as more "desirable."

What are the implications of this research? First, it demonstrates some of the dynamics of sex and power. Women are placed in a sort of "double bind" in that they tend to use fake smiles to cover their discomfort and try to perform well in the interview, but this strategy seems to backfire as they are rated as "less competent."

Moreover, the fake smiles are misinterpreted by the very men who might be likely to put them into uncomfortable sexual situations and could lead to increased incidence of harassment.

Lesson: Employers need to be alert and proactive when it comes to sexual harassment in the workplace, as the dynamics of sex and power are subtle and insidious.

Study 3: Capturing charisma.

In one of our studies, we measured participants’ emotional expressiveness—their ability to spontaneously express real emotions—before they returned for an experiment. We simply videotaped each participant as they entered the laboratory and greeted other people—in all, the video clips were less than a minute. Those clips were shown to judges, who rated each participant on their likability.

More emotionally expressive persons were rated as more likable, and the judges thought they were higher on general “attractiveness” (we statistically controlled for the participants’ actual physical attractiveness)—confirming that emotional expressiveness was a key element of charisma .

Lesson: First impressions really matter.

Study 4: How nonverbal behavior affects others’ moods: Capturing emotional contagion.

In another study, we recruited participants for an experiment after measuring their emotional expressiveness. We chose three people for each group—one who was very emotionally expressive, and two who were moderately low on expressiveness. We gave them all measures of their moods, and then asked them to wait in a small “waiting room” with three desks facing each other.

We told them not to talk, but to simply wait silently, and we would call them for the experiment. This actually was the experiment. After three minutes of sitting silently together, we again measured their moods and then dismissed them. The study was over!

Here is what we found:

The individual who was expressive—able to easily convey emotions via nonverbal behavior—was able to affect the other two participants’ moods. In fact, they “converged” on the mood of the nonverbally expressive person. If that person was bored , the others in the group became more bored. If they were happy coming in, the others became happier, etc. In short, we captured, in the laboratory, the process by which emotions are transmitted nonverbally from one person to another.

Lesson: Nonverbal communication is subtle. It affects our moods, and we may be completely unaware of how others’ moods affect us.

Snyder, M., Tanke, E.D., & Berscheid, E. (1977). Social perception and interpersonal behavior: On the self-fulfilling nature of social stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 656-666.

Woodzicka, J.A. & LaFrance, M. (2005). Working on a smile: Responding to sexual provocation in the workplace. In R.E. Riggio & R.S. Feldman (Eds.), Applications of Nonverbal Communication (pp. 139-155). Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers.

Friedman, H.S., Riggio, R.E., & Casella, D.* (1988). Nonverbal skill, personal charisma, and initial attraction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 14, 203-211.

Friedman, H.S., & Riggio, R.E. (1981). Effect of individual differences in nonverbal expressiveness on transmission of emotion. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 6, 96-104.

Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. , is the Henry R. Kravis Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology at Claremont McKenna College.

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Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Nonverbal Communication — Amy Cuddy: Your Body Language Affects Who You Are

Amy Cuddy: Your Body Language Affects Who You Are

• Categories: Nonverbal Communication

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What is body language?

The importance of body language, types of body language and nonverbal communication, how body language can go wrong, how to improve nonverbal communication, tip 1: learn to manage stress in the moment, tip 2: develop your emotional awareness, tip 3: better read body language, body language and nonverbal communication communicating without words.

Your facial expressions, gestures, posture, and tone of voice are powerful communication tools. Here’s how to read and use body language to build better relationships at home and work.

Body language is the use of physical behavior, expressions, and mannerisms to communicate nonverbally, often done instinctively rather than consciously. Whether you’re aware of it or not, when you interact with others, you’re continuously giving and receiving wordless signals. All of your nonverbal behaviors—the gestures you make, your posture, your tone of voice, how much eye contact you make—send strong messages.

In fact, it’s not the words that you use but your nonverbal cues or body language that speak the loudest. They can put people at ease, build trust, and draw others towards you, or they can offend, confuse, and undermine what you’re trying to convey. These messages don’t stop when you stop speaking either. Even when you’re silent, you’re still communicating nonverbally.

In some instances, what comes out of your mouth and what you communicate through your body language may be two totally different things. If you say one thing, but your body language says something else, your listener will likely feel that you’re being dishonest. If you say “yes” while shaking your head no, for example. When faced with such mixed signals, the listener has to choose whether to believe your verbal or nonverbal message. Since body language is a natural, unconscious language that broadcasts your true feelings and intentions, they’ll likely choose the nonverbal message.

However, by improving how you understand and use body language and nonverbal communication, you can express what you really mean, connect better with others, and build stronger, more rewarding relationships—both in your personal and professional relationships.

Your nonverbal communication cues—the way you listen, look, move, and react—tell the person you’re communicating with whether or not you care, if you’re being truthful, and how well you’re listening. When your nonverbal signals match up with the words you’re saying, they increase trust, clarity, and rapport. When they don’t, they can generate tension, mistrust, and confusion.

If you want to become a better communicator, it’s important to become more sensitive not only to the body language and nonverbal cues of others, but also to your own.

Body language can play five roles:

• Repetition: It repeats and often strengthens the message you’re making verbally.
• Contradiction: It can contradict the message you’re trying to convey, thus indicating to your listener that you may not be telling the truth.
• Substitution: It can substitute for a verbal message. For example, your facial expression often conveys a far more vivid message than words ever can.
• Complementing: It may add to or complement your verbal message. As a boss, if you pat an employee on the back in addition to giving praise, it can increase the impact of your message.
• Accenting: It may accent or underline a verbal message. Pounding the table, for example, can underline the importance of your message.

The many different types of nonverbal communication or body language include:

Facial expressions. The human face is extremely expressive, able to convey countless emotions without saying a word. And unlike some forms of nonverbal communication, facial expressions are universal. The facial expressions for happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust are the same across cultures.

Body movement and posture. Consider how your perceptions of people are affected by the way they sit, walk, stand, or hold their head. The way you move and carry yourself communicates a wealth of information to the world. This type of nonverbal communication includes your posture, bearing, stance, and the subtle movements you make.

Gestures. Gestures are woven into the fabric of our daily lives. You may wave, point, beckon, or use your hands when arguing or speaking animatedly, often expressing yourself with gestures without thinking. However, the meaning of some gestures can be very different across cultures. While the “OK” sign made with the hand, for example, usually conveys a positive message in English-speaking countries, it’s considered offensive in countries such as Germany, Russia, and Brazil. So, it’s important to be careful of how you use gestures to avoid misinterpretation.

Eye contact. Since the visual sense is dominant for most people, eye contact is an especially important type of nonverbal communication. The way you look at someone can communicate many things, including interest, affection, hostility, or attraction. Eye contact is also important in maintaining the flow of conversation and for gauging the other person’s interest and response.

Touch. We communicate a great deal through touch. Think about the very different messages given by a weak handshake, a warm bear hug, a patronizing pat on the head, or a controlling grip on the arm, for example.

Space. Have you ever felt uncomfortable during a conversation because the other person was standing too close and invading your space? We all have a need for physical space, although that need differs depending on the culture, the situation, and the closeness of the relationship. You can use physical space to communicate many different nonverbal messages, including signals of intimacy and affection, aggression or dominance.

Voice. It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it. When you speak, other people “read” your voice in addition to listening to your words. Things they pay attention to include your timing and pace, how loud you speak, your tone and inflection, and sounds that convey understanding, such as “ahh” and “uh-huh.” Think about how your tone of voice can indicate sarcasm, anger, affection, or confidence.

Can nonverbal communication be faked?

There are many books and websites that offer advice on how to use body language to your advantage. For example, they may instruct you on how to sit a certain way, steeple your fingers, or shake hands in order to appear confident or assert dominance. But the truth is that such tricks aren’t likely to work (unless you truly feel confident and in charge). That’s because you can’t control all of the signals you’re constantly sending about what you’re really thinking and feeling. And the harder you try, the more unnatural your signals are likely to come across.

However, that doesn’t mean that you have no control over your nonverbal cues. For example, if you disagree with or dislike what someone’s saying, you may use negative body language to rebuff the person’s message, such as crossing your arms, avoiding eye contact, or tapping your feet. You don’t have to agree, or even like what’s being said, but to communicate effectively and not put the other person on the defensive, you can make a conscious effort to avoid sending negative signals—by maintaining an open stance and truly attempting to understand what they’re saying, and why.

What you communicate through your body language and nonverbal signals affects how others see you, how well they like and respect you, and whether or not they trust you. Unfortunately, many people send confusing or negative nonverbal signals without even knowing it. When this happens, both connection and trust in relationships are damaged, as the following examples highlight:

• Jack believes he gets along great with his colleagues at work, but if you were to ask any of them, they would say that Jack is “intimidating” and “very intense.” Rather than just look at you, he seems to devour you with his eyes. And if he takes your hand, he lunges to get it and then squeezes so hard it hurts. Jack is a caring guy who secretly wishes he had more friends, but his nonverbal awkwardness keeps people at a distance and limits his ability to advance at work.
• Arlene is attractive and has no problem meeting eligible men, but she has a difficult time maintaining a relationship for longer than a few months. Arlene is funny and interesting, but even though she constantly laughs and smiles, she radiates tension. Her shoulders and eyebrows are noticeably raised, her voice is shrill, and her body is stiff. Being around Arlene makes many people feel anxious and uncomfortable. Arlene has a lot going for her that is undercut by the discomfort she evokes in others.
• Ted thought he had found the perfect match when he met Sharon, but Sharon wasn’t so sure. Ted is good looking, hardworking, and a smooth talker, but seemed to care more about his thoughts than Sharon’s. When Sharon had something to say, Ted was always ready with wild eyes and a rebuttal before she could finish her thought. This made Sharon feel ignored, and soon she started dating other men. Ted loses out at work for the same reason. His inability to listen to others makes him unpopular with many of the people he most admires.

These smart, well-intentioned people struggle in their attempt to connect with others. The sad thing is that they are unaware of the nonverbal messages they communicate.

[Read: Tips for Building a Healthy Relationship]

If you want to communicate effectively, avoid misunderstandings, and enjoy solid, trusting relationships both socially and professionally, it’s important to understand how to use and interpret body language and improve your nonverbal communication skills.

Find your space for healing and growth

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Nonverbal communication is a rapidly flowing back-and-forth process that requires your full focus on the moment-to-moment experience. If you’re planning what you’re going to say next, checking your phone, or thinking about something else, you’re almost certain to miss nonverbal cues and not fully understand the subtleties of what’s being communicated.

As well as being fully present, you can improve how you communicate nonverbally by learning to manage stress and developing your emotional awareness.

Stress compromises your ability to communicate. When you’re stressed out, you’re more likely to misread other people, send confusing or off-putting nonverbal signals, and lapse into unhealthy knee-jerk patterns of behavior. And remember: emotions are contagious. If you are upset, it is very likely to make others upset, thus making a bad situation worse.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by stress, take a time out. Take a moment to calm down before you jump back into the conversation. Once you’ve regained your emotional equilibrium, you’ll feel better equipped to deal with the situation in a positive way.

The fastest and surest way to calm yourself and manage stress in the moment is to employ your senses—what you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch—or through a soothing movement. By viewing a photo of your child or pet, smelling a favorite scent, listening to a certain piece of music, or squeezing a stress ball, for example, you can quickly relax and refocus. Since everyone responds differently, you may need to experiment to find the sensory experience that works best for you.

In order to send accurate nonverbal cues, you need to be aware of your emotions and how they influence you. You also need to be able to recognize the emotions of others and the true feelings behind the cues they are sending. This is where emotional awareness comes in.

[Read: Improving Emotional Intelligence (EQ)]

Being emotionally aware enables you to:

• Accurately read other people, including the emotions they’re feeling and the unspoken messages they’re sending.
• Create trust in relationships by sending nonverbal signals that match up with your words.
• Respond in ways that show others that you understand and care.

Many of us are disconnected from our emotions—especially strong emotions such as anger, sadness, fear—because we’ve been taught to try to shut off our feelings. But while you can deny or numb your feelings, you can’t eliminate them. They’re still there and they’re still affecting your behavior. By developing your emotional awareness and connecting with even the unpleasant emotions, though, you’ll gain greater control over how you think and act. To start developing your emotional awareness, practice the mindfulness meditation in HelpGuide’s free Emotional Intelligence Toolkit .

Once you’ve developed your abilities to manage stress and recognize emotions, you’ll start to become better at reading the nonverbal signals sent by others. It’s also important to:

Pay attention to inconsistencies. Nonverbal communication should reinforce what is being said. Is the person saying one thing, but their body language conveying something else? For example, are they telling you “yes” while shaking their head no?

Look at nonverbal communication signals as a group. Don’t read too much into a single gesture or nonverbal cue. Consider all of the nonverbal signals you are receiving, from eye contact to tone of voice and body language. Taken together, are their nonverbal cues consistent—or inconsistent—with what their words are saying?

Trust your instincts. Don’t dismiss your gut feelings. If you get the sense that someone isn’t being honest or that something isn’t adding up, you may be picking up on a mismatch between verbal and nonverbal cues.

Evaluating body language and nonverbal signals

Eye contact – Is the person making eye contact? If so, is it overly intense or just right?

Facial expression – What is their face showing? Is it masklike and unexpressive, or emotionally present and filled with interest?

Tone of voice – Does the person’s voice project warmth, confidence, and interest, or is it strained and blocked?

Posture and gesture – Is their body relaxed or stiff and immobile? Are their shoulders tense and raised, or relaxed?

Touch – Is there any physical contact? Is it appropriate to the situation? Does it make you feel uncomfortable?

Intensity – Does the person seem flat, cool, and disinterested, or over-the-top and melodramatic?

Timing and place – Is there an easy flow of information back and forth? Do nonverbal responses come too quickly or too slowly?

Sounds – Do you hear sounds that indicate interest, caring or concern from the person?

More Information

• Take Control of Your Nonverbal Communication (video) - How to notice and use body language. (Harvard Business Review)
• Herrando, C., & Constantinides, E. (2021). Emotional Contagion: A Brief Overview and Future Directions. Frontiers in Psychology , 12 , 712606. Link
• How to Use All 5 Senses to Beat Stress | Psychology Today . (n.d.). Retrieved July 28, 2022, from Link
• Wertheim, E., 2008.  The Importance of Effective Communication . Retrieved July 28, 2022, from Link
• Segal, Jeanne. The Language of Emotional Intelligence: The Five Essential Tools for Building Powerful and Effective Relationships (McGraw-Hill, 2008) Link
• De Stefani, Elisa, and Doriana De Marco. “Language, Gesture, and Emotional Communication: An Embodied View of Social Interaction.” Frontiers in Psychology 10 (September 24, 2019): 2063. Link
• Nonverbal Communications . (n.d.). Retrieved July 28, 2022, from Link

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The Role Of Body Language In Communication

Body language often plays a significant role in communication and can be as important as the words we say. It can involve eye contact, head movement, posture, gestures, and facial expressions, all of which can add meaning to our verbal communication. Non-human primates also frequently use body language to communicate. Today, body language may not always play a role in communication, as many of our interactions tend to happen online through text only. However, body language will likely continue to be a crucial element of communication as long as people continue to have face-to-face interactions. If you struggle to communicate effectively or have trouble understanding various body language cues, working with a therapist in person or online may be helpful.

What is body language?

• Facial expressions
• Head movement
• Eye contact

These can be universal to all humans, and people may perform them consciously or subconsciously to convey their thoughts and feelings. Experts say body language usually constitutes about half of what we are trying to communicate. 

For example, a person may not always need to verbally say "no" to communicate that something is wrong or that they disagree with what a person is saying. Instead, they can shake their head from side to side to share the same sentiment. Moreover, if a student slouches in their chair in class and doesn’t make eye contact with their teacher, this may signal that they are bored.

Body language can also enhance and complement our verbal communication skills. For instance, if someone in a store is asking for directions on where to find a product, and an employee merely says, "over there," this information may be too vague to be helpful to the customer.

At that point, the employee can be more specific with the location of the item by stating what aisle or department it is in. However, they may also gesture or point in the direction where the product is located. Even if the employee was not very specific and simply said "over there" while pointing, it would likely be more helpful than the original scenario with no body language.

Body language often plays a significant role in everyday interactions, which may be why it tends to be one of the most popular topics in communication studies. It is believed to have been of interest for thousands of years; even the Ancient Greeks interpreted the meanings behind human physical behavior. 

Body language as a form of unconscious communication

The previous section discussed a couple of examples that show how movement can be used to enhance speech. However, body language psychology may also consider unconscious communication. Although these physical cues might be unintentional, they can still be interpreted by others.

Consider law enforcement as an example. A forensic psychologist or someone working with intelligence may be  trained to notice brief micro-expressions , or quick, unconscious expressions of emotion that can appear on a person’s face.

People in charge of investigations may be interested in these nonverbal cues because they can indicate whether a person is lying or trying to conceal something from the interrogator. These cues can happen in a split second, but if an observer slows or freezes a video, they might witness an apparent expression change at that moment.

Some other everyday situations where unconscious body language can occur may be during periods of nervousness or attraction. Specific expressions can vary from person to person. For example, someone might cough when placed in a scenario that makes them nervous, whereas another might touch their face or scratch themselves as though they have an itch.

People may be unaware of their body language in these situations because these cues tend to be performed subconsciously. However, they can be observable to others, and people might notice patterns over time. This may be especially true for people who interact with each other regularly, such as parents and their children, for example. 

Since people close to one another usually know each other's baseline or default personality, they can spot when something is off by noticing changes in body language. For instance, if a child lies to their mother about where they are going, they might exhibit distinct body cues that are out of the ordinary, such as avoiding eye contact or speaking more rapidly.

Evolution and the origins of body language

By researching non-human primates, we may better understand how we used body language early in our evolution as a species. The use of body language generally predates any spoken or written language that humans have created. Since they do not have the same vocal anatomy and brain size as humans do to produce speech, non-human primates frequently use body language to communicate with each other.

It is also generally believed that genetic differences may be similarly responsible for why we can speak, while our closest ancestors, chimpanzees and bonobos, cannot. A variation of the FOXP2 gene is suggested to be why this is the case, and humans may have a unique mutation. This mutation had likely occurred within the last four to six million years because that is when the last common ancestor to the Homo and Pan species lived. The mutation is believed to have stuck around, rather than gradually being bred out, because increased communication abilities likely enhanced our chance of survival.

Although they may not speak as we can, non-human primates can provide insight into why body language developed in the first place. We can observe them and see how they use nonverbal communication with one another to fulfill their need to communicate.

Gestures have often been noted in monkeys and great apes to produce different signals, some of which humans also use. For example, a hard touch or brush of the hand can tell another individual to stop, whereas a soft one or a light pull can be more inviting. Some species, such as orangutans, also embrace one another.

Others have unique forms of body language to communicate. Male gorillas may attempt to show dominance by standing on two legs and beating their chests. Despite being exclusive to gorillas, humans also typically have ways to assert power and strength nonverbally, such as standing with our feet at a wider stance than usual. Some primates, such as chimpanzees and bonobos, may pout; however, instead of signaling sadness or disappointment, pouting usually means wanting something related to food or grooming. 

In primates, gestures are often accompanied by facial expressions and eye contact. Baring teeth can be a universal sign of aggression among non-human primates. On the other hand, lip-smacking can be a friendly facial signal and may be a form of submission in some situations.

As our brains have grown and our facial structure has changed over time, humans have generally been able to utilize other types of body language in communication. While we may not show our teeth to express aggression, we frequently have other ways to convey the same message, such as scowling, glaring, or using unique gestures like the "middle finger"(which can tie in with language and culture).

The importance of body language in modern society

In today's digital age, many people rely on social media and text messaging to communicate with each other. Although virtual interaction may allow people to talk at their leisure and can minimize social pressure and anxiety for some, certain things can be lost in translation, so to speak. 

By being unable to see or hear the other person as you speak with them, you might miss critical nonverbal cues, as well as verbal ones, like vocal inflection. Online communication is generally becoming the primary modality for millions of people, and body language may continue to evolve to accommodate this shift.

Still, body language has likely been around for millions of years, and despite it being absent from certain situations, it can still be relevant. It may continue for the foreseeable future as long as people continue interacting face-to-face. Research has shown that body language can be vital for human cognitive functioning because it can enhance information transfer and lexical retrieval. 

For some, nonverbal communication may not come easily, and this difficulty may be exacerbated by the frequent use of technology, which may not allow for as many opportunities to learn and practice. If you struggle with communication, whether verbal or nonverbal, therapy can be helpful.

Benefits of online therapy

Online therapy can be convenient if you struggle with communicating or need extra help and support with mental health-related concerns. You generally won't need to leave your house to work with a licensed therapist suited to your needs, and if you're worried about the ability to pick up on nonverbal cues like body language, video-chatting with your therapist may be an option, in addition to phone call or online chat sessions.

Effectiveness of online therapy

A common reason for communication struggles can be social anxiety disorder. If you experience symptoms of social anxiety, it can be challenging to fully engage in conversation and pick up on body language cues. A 2022 study indicated that online therapy could be effective in treating social anxiety disorder . However, if communication difficulties stem from another cause, it may be helpful to know that online therapy is generally as effective as in-person therapy for a variety of mental health-related concerns, according to a growing body of evidence. 

Please continue reading for reviews of some of our therapists from people experiencing similar challenges.

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What is the 7 %- 38 %- 55 rule?

Generally speaking, body language plays a large role in our ability to communicate as humans. Understanding how to read body language can give someone a deeper connection and understanding of what is truly being said and felt by someone else. 

The 7%-38%-55% rule suggests that a mere 7% of communication is done verbally. It then hypothesizes that 38% of communication comes across in our tone and voice inflection, leaving 55% of the communication to come from someone’s body movement and language. 

Whether these exact percentages are true or not, it does show us just how much of a role body language, hand gestures, and facial expressions play in communication — possibly showing our unspoken emotions. 

How much does body language contribute to communication?

Our body movements and hand gestures can convey emotions that we may not even be consciously aware of. Even if we only use subtle movements, someone who is using active listening skills can understand these additions to our verbal message. Seeking out body language tips, as well as signs of positive body language and negative body language can help us to use these skills more effectively socially. 

What are the 4 types of body language?

Generally speaking, people recognize four main types of body language. These can include soft and fluid, precise and bold, dynamic and determined, and light and bouncy movements. Each of these types can convey understanding and support our speech in a visual sense. 

What are the 3 V's of communication?

Many recognize that the three V’s of communication include visual, vocal, and verbal communication methods; which can be shown by positive body language, vocal inflection, and other ways. For example: Maintaining open posture and open body language as you welcome a new friend to a group can send the message that you’re genuinely a warm, safe person to be around. Alternatively, maintaining an open posture and maintaining eye contact can be a way to generate tension if you’re angry, signaling that you’re ready for conflict. 

What is the most effective body language used in speaking to someone face-to-face?

Many sources find that the most effective body language type for face-to-face communication is simply the management of your facial expression. A nice smile can be a great way to facilitate connection and conversation, for example. 

What are some examples of bad body language?

“Bad body language” is entirely subjective, and can be formed by a person’s unique experiences. However, common examples of body language that people may perceive negatively can include: 

• Shifting one’s weight from side to side 
• Tensing your cheek muscles 
• A Body Language Guide: 15 Common Nonverbal Cues Medically reviewed by April Justice , LICSW
• How To Figure Out If A Guy Likes You Medically reviewed by Karen Foster , LPC
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Reflection And Analysis Of Amy Cuddy’s Speech On Body Language

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• Topic: Body Language , Communication Skills

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• Our behavior can change our outcome.

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