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Altered learning under uncertainty in unmedicated mood and anxiety disorders.


ABSTRACT: Anxiety is characterized by altered responses under uncertain conditions, but the precise mechanism by which uncertainty changes the behaviour of anxious individuals is unclear. Here we probe the computational basis of learning under uncertainty in healthy individuals and individuals suffering from a mix of mood and anxiety disorders. Participants were asked to choose between four competing slot machines with fluctuating reward and punishment outcomes during safety and stress. We predicted that anxious individuals under stress would learn faster about punishments and exhibit choices that were more affected by those punishments, thus formalizing our predictions as parameters in reinforcement learning accounts of behaviour. Overall, the data suggest that anxious individuals are quicker to update their behaviour in response to negative outcomes (increased punishment learning rates). When treating anxiety, it may therefore be more fruitful to encourage anxious individuals to integrate information over longer horizons when bad things happen, rather than try to blunt their responses to negative outcomes.

SUBMITTER: Aylward J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6790140 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Altered learning under uncertainty in unmedicated mood and anxiety disorders.

Aylward Jessica J   Valton Vincent V   Ahn Woo-Young WY   Bond Rebecca L RL   Dayan Peter P   Roiser Jonathan P JP   Robinson Oliver J OJ  

Nature human behaviour 20190617 10


Anxiety is characterized by altered responses under uncertain conditions, but the precise mechanism by which uncertainty changes the behaviour of anxious individuals is unclear. Here we probe the computational basis of learning under uncertainty in healthy individuals and individuals suffering from a mix of mood and anxiety disorders. Participants were asked to choose between four competing slot machines with fluctuating reward and punishment outcomes during safety and stress. We predicted that  ...[more]

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