Inhibiting affiliative facial expressions (such as smiling) has been shown to be more effective when directed towards targets associated with negative behavior. In contrast, inhibiting negative facial expressions (such as frowning), does not significantly affect participants' performance. With results from approach-avoidance tasks indicating that only smiles from positive targets are accompanied by an approach bias, whereas smiles from negative targets did not affect approach-avoidance behavior. This poster will discuss a prospective EEG study, investigating at which processing stage the emotional states of disliked others are likely discounted and if
te observation of emotional displays of disliked others is accompanied by an enhanced conflict experience. The study is designed to compare neuronal markers of conflict monitoring and feedback processing during a social target approach and avoidance task, as well as indicators of motor inhibition (N2, P3, conflict SP, FRN). This study aims to integrate theories of cognitive conflict with higher-order social-emotional conflict and the control of facial actions.