I am interested in affective control abilities that allow for regulation of feelings and behavior paving the way for successful social interactions. My research aims at understanding the mechanisms enabling flexible control of involuntary affective reactions (e.g., facial expressions) and its consequences for interpersonal communication. Additionally, I test how facial expressions arise, what type of information they convey and how they are perceived, processed and judged by others. For this, I apply a variety of behavioral, physiological as well as neuro-cognitive methods.