Subscribe
The latest psychology and neuroscience discoveries.
My Account
  • Mental Health
  • Social Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Psychopharmacology
No Result
View All Result
PsyPost
PsyPost
No Result
View All Result
Home Exclusive Mental Health

Anxious people more apt to make bad decisions amid uncertainty

by University of California at Berkeley
March 2, 2015
in Mental Health
Photo credit: Flickr user Francesco (Creative Commons)

Photo credit: Flickr user Francesco (Creative Commons)

[Subscribe to PsyPost on YouTube to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in psychology and neuroscience]

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Highly anxious people have more trouble deciding how best to handle life’s uncertainties. They may even catastrophize, interpreting, say, a lovers’ tiff as a doomed relationship or a workplace change as a career threat.

In gauging people’s response to unpredictability, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Oxford found that people prone to high anxiety have a tougher time reading the environmental cues that could help them avoid a bad outcome.

Their findings, reported today (Monday, March 2), in the journal Nature Neuroscience, hint at a glitch in the brain’s higher-order decision-making circuitry that could eventually be targeted in the treatment of anxiety disorders, which affect some 40 million American adults.

“Our results show that anxiety may be linked to difficulty in using information about whether the situations we face daily, including relationship dynamics, are stable or not, and deciding how to react,” said study lead author Sonia Bishop, an assistant professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and principal investigator of the study.

“It’s a bit like being Alice in Wonderland, trying to work out if the same rules apply or if everything is different and if so, what choices you should make,” she added.

For example, a friend may suddenly lash out for no discernible reason. That friend’s behavior could reflect a typical variation in their day-to-day mood or interactions or, more dramatically, an underlying change in their relationship with you. The challenge for a person prone to anxiety is assessing the situation in context of what else has happened recently and responding appropriately.

Bishop and fellow researchers used decision-making tasks, behavioral and physiological measurements and computational models to gauge the probabilistic decision-making skills of 31 young and middle-aged adults whose baseline anxiety levels ranged from low to extreme. Probabilistic decision-making requires using logic and probability to handle uncertain situations, drawing conclusions from past events to determine the best choice.

“An important skill in everyday decision-making is the ability to judge whether an unexpected bad outcome is a chance event or something likely to reoccur if the action that led to the outcome is repeated,” Bishop said.

The researchers’ measures also included eye-tracking to detect pupil dilation, an indicator that the brain has released norepinephrine, which helps send signals to multiple brain regions to increase alertness and readiness to act.

Participants were asked to play a computerized “two-armed bandit-style” game in which they repeatedly chose between two shapes, one of which, if selected, would deliver a mild to moderate electrical shock.

To avoid getting shocked, participants needed to keep track of the shape that most frequently delivered electrical jolts. During one part of the game, the shock-delivering shape did not change for a long stretch of time. However, during another part of the game, it changed more frequently. Highly anxious people had more trouble than their less anxious counterparts adjusting to this and thus avoiding shocks.

“Their choices indicated they were worse at figuring out whether they were in a stable or erratic environment and using this to make the best choices possible,” Bishop said.

Also weaker in highly anxious participants was their pupil response to receiving a shock (or not) during the erratic phase of the game. Typically, our pupils dilate when we take in new information, and this dilation increases in volatile environments. Smaller pupils suggested a failure to process the rapidly changing information that was more prevalent during the erratic phase of the game.

“Our findings help explain why anxious individuals may find decision-making under uncertainty hard as they struggle to pick up on clues as to whether they are in a stable or changing situation,” Bishop said.

ShareTweetSendScanShareSharePinSend

NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP

STAY CONNECTED

TRENDING

One in four people may experience estrangement from a sibling in adulthood, study finds

Buzzing the brain with electricity can boost the willingness to engage in mental effort

Study links deviations in circadian rhythm patterns to psychiatric problems in adolescents

Study finds that poor sleep quality increases aggression, possibly by affecting emotional cognition

Virtual reality can inoculate people against the allure of alternative romantic partners, study finds

A history of intermittent fasting is associated with increased disordered eating behaviors

RECENT

People are more inclined to get COVID-19 booster after reading tweets that target regret, study finds

Study links deviations in circadian rhythm patterns to psychiatric problems in adolescents

False confidence: Watching a simple video increases people’s belief in their own ability to land a plane

A history of intermittent fasting is associated with increased disordered eating behaviors

Psychologists developed a new measure of sexual anxiety sensitivity. It predicts some important sex-related outcomes.

Virtual reality can inoculate people against the allure of alternative romantic partners, study finds

Buzzing the brain with electricity can boost the willingness to engage in mental effort

Study finds that poor sleep quality increases aggression, possibly by affecting emotional cognition

Currently Playing

Individuals with dark personality traits are less oriented towards long-term mating strategies

Disclosing victim status reduces online dating matches regardless of race or sex

Individuals with dark personality traits are less oriented towards long-term mating strategies

Dark Triad
Longitudinal study examines the effects of adversity on wise reasoning

New study examines the psychological mechanisms underlying Solomon’s paradox

Social Psychology
Engaging in religious practice, even if you don’t believe, may increase your capacity to delay gratification

Engaging in religious practice, even if you don’t believe, may increase your capacity to delay gratification

Cognitive Science
New study sheds light on how three distinct types of first impressions predict subsequent dating outcomes

New study sheds light on how three distinct types of first impressions predict subsequent dating outcomes

Relationships and Sexual Health
A single, moderate dose of psilocybin reduces depressive symptoms for at least two weeks, controlled study finds

A single, moderate dose of psilocybin reduces depressive symptoms for at least two weeks, controlled study finds

Depression
Study identifies factors that influence the link between men’s body esteem and their ability to enjoy their sexuality

Study identifies factors that influence the link between men’s body esteem and their ability to enjoy their sexuality

Mental Health
  • Cognitive Science
  • COVID-19
  • Mental Health
  • Social Psychology
  • Drug Research
  • Conspiracy Theories
  • Meditation
  • Psychology of Religion
  • Aviation Psychology and Human Factors
  • Relationships and Sexual Health
  • Evolutionary Psychology
  • Neuroimaging
  • Psychedelic Drugs
  • Dark Triad
  • Political Psychology

About

PsyPost is a psychology and neuroscience news website dedicated to reporting the latest research on human behavior, cognition, and society. (READ MORE...)

  • Contact us
  • Privacy policy

Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Cognitive Science Research
  • Mental Health Research
  • Social Psychology Research
  • About PsyPost
    • Contact us
  • Privacy policy

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used.