Sebastian Korb

Sebastian Korb is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex, where he has been a faculty member since 2020. He previously held postdoctoral positions at the University of Vienna, International School for Advanced Studies (Italy), University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the University of Geneva. His research is interdisciplinary, bridging experimental psychology, social neuroscience, and affective science.

• PhD, University of Geneva (2010)
• MSc, Utrecht University (2006)
• BSc, University of Strasbourg (2004)

Dr. Korb's research focuses on the perception and expression of emotion, particularly through the lens of embodied cognition. He investigates how bodily feedback—especially facial feedback—shapes emotional experience and recognition. His work emphasizes the role of facial mimicry, proprioception, and multisensory integration in emotion processing. He is also deeply interested in the neural and psychological mechanisms of reward, especially social and musical rewards.

His recent publications reveal a strong methodological focus on facial electromyography (EMG), facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (fNMES), and EEG. The articles show a consistent trend in exploring how artificially induced facial movements (e.g., smiling via fNMES) influence emotion perception and neural processing. Key themes include the facial feedback hypothesis, emotion contagion, reward anticipation, and cross-cultural biases in emotion perception.

Dr. Korb has received research funding from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) for work on neuromuscular stimulation and social cognition. He has supervised PhD students, including Themis Nikolas Efthimiou and Ricky Chmitorz, and has collaborated widely with researchers in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and the US.

He is actively involved in methodological innovation, publishing practical guides on fNMES and contributing to replication efforts in psychology. While no formal awards are listed, his work appears in high-impact journals such as eLife, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, and Emotion.

Dr. Korb is part of a vibrant research team at Essex focused on social neuroscience and emotion, often collaborating with Giorgia Silani, Marcello Mortillaro, and others on topics related to reward, mimicry, and affective processing.