"Emotions are adaptive actions that take place in the real world and involve the whole body. In contrast with an overwhelming number of studies on facial expressions, very little research has been devoted to how emotions are expressed by the whole body and its actions in the real world. This proposal combines neuropsychology and emotion research with normal and unique patient populations. It will apply innovative combinations of physiological and multimodal imaging methods (EEG/MEG and fMRI, EMG and TMS) and novel technologies like IVR and contribute to adapting immersive virtual reality tools for research and application. The proposal is highly interdisciplinary linking different methodological approaches and combining basic with application-oriented research. Novel findings on how the whole body expresses and communicates emotion and action are of major scientific interest and have direct societal, clinical, information technological and practical payoffs. The results will contribute a novel and far reaching understanding of nonverbal communication, of gender –related and cultural differences, and of affective communication deficits. Applications also include a novel body communication test and we will provide to the community at large a set of stimuli for measuring bodily expressions in action."