The Effects of Anger and Joy Expressions on Approach and Avoidance Behaviors in Healthy Volunteers

Social interactions are part of our daily lives. Communicating with others is a recurring choice which is based on emotional cues, such as facial expression. Our action must be adapted to the emotional state of our interlocutor, otherwise the investigators will have poor quality interactions An emotional stimulus would cause a conditioned response (innate reaction). Thus, the presence of an angry person would automatically trigger flight behavior. More recently, however, it has been envisioned that this same avoidance behavior could be the result of a goal-directed behvior. In this case, the avoidance behavior would be the result of an evaluation of the consequences of the selected action. These goal-directed behaviors are guided by a mental representation of consequences The project aims to study behavioral choices (approach and avoidance) in response to negative and positive social cues (anger and joy) in 40 healthy volunteers using a computerized neuropsychological task, and to determine wheter these choices are the result of goal-directed behavior.

The study also aims to assess the modulation of behavioral adaptation by the level of impulsivity, lonilness, empathy, and by the capcity to understand others' intenstions.