The role of the motoric system in emotions: Establishing the MOTOR Group

Our motor system – expressed in posture and gait – guides our perception of and actions in the world. This project will establish the MOTOR group which will investigate 1) if certain motor expressions can help individuals take adaptive action, that is, action congruent with the indivual’s goal and appropriate to the context, and 2) how such effect comes about, that is, what the mechanisms of change are. A number of experiments will be conducted on both healthy individuals and individuals with mental disorders such as anxiety and depression. The overall aim is to advance our understanding of how we can use our bodies to take wanted action. Such knowledge is important not only from a normative perspective but also from a clinical perspective where it can help guide and optimize psychotherapy for anxiety and depression.