Affective facial expressions elicit automatic approach or avoidance action tendencies, which are dysregulated in Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). However, research has not dissociated the initiation and execution phases of automatic action tendencies, which may be distinctly modulated by affective faces and SAD. In Study 1, fifty adults completed a modified Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT) that characterized the time course of automatic approach or avoidance actions elicited by affective faces. In the initiation phase, happy faces elicited greater automatic approach tendencies compared to angry faces, an effect that linearly weakened across the execution phase. In Study 2, 44 adults with a principal diagnosis of SAD and 22 healthy comparison (HC) adults completed a similar AAT. Compared to the HC group, the SAD group exhibited an inconsistent time course of automatic action tendencies to neutral faces. Specifically, SAD was characterized by relatively weak initiation of automatic approach tendencies, but relatively stronger execution of automatic approach tendencies. In contrast, the HC group exhibited relatively similar initiation and execution of automatic approach tendencies to neutral faces. Together, these results demonstrate that the initiation and execution of automatic action tendencies are differentially modulated by affective faces and SAD.

情感面部表情会引发自动接近或回避动作倾向，这在社交焦虑症 (SAD) 中失调。然而，研究并没有将自动动作倾向的启动和执行阶段分开，这可能受到情感面孔和 SAD 的明显调节。在研究 1 中，50 名成年人完成了一项改进的接近-回避任务 (AAT)，该任务表征了由情感面孔引发的自动接近或回避动作的时间过程。在启动阶段，与生气的面孔相比，开心的面孔会引发更大的自动接近倾向，这种效应在执行阶段线性减弱。在研究 2 中，44 名主要诊断为 SAD 的成年人和 22 名健康对照 (HC) 成年人完成了类似的 AAT。与HC组相比，SAD 组表现出对中性面孔的自动动作倾向不一致的时间过程。具体而言，SAD 的特点是自动进近趋势的启动相对较弱，但自动进近趋势的执行相对较强。相比之下，HC 组表现出相对相似的启动和执行自动接近中性面孔的倾向。总之，这些结果表明，自动动作倾向的启动和执行受到情感面孔和 SAD 的不同调节。HC 组表现出相对相似的启动和执行自动接近中性面孔的倾向。总之，这些结果表明，自动动作倾向的启动和执行受到情感面孔和 SAD 的不同调节。HC 组表现出相对相似的启动和执行自动接近中性面孔的倾向。总之，这些结果表明，自动动作倾向的启动和执行受到情感面孔和 SAD 的不同调节。