High trait anxiety is associated with attenuated feedback-related negativity in risky decision making

Abstract

Expectation biases could affect decision making in trait anxiety. Studying the alterations of feedback processing in real-life risk-taking tasks could reveal the presence of expectation biases at the neural level. A functional relevance of the feedback-related negativity (FRN) is the expression of outcome expectation errors. The aim of the study was to investigate whether nonclinical adults with high trait anxiety show smaller FRN for negative feedback than those with low trait anxiety. Participants (N=26) were assigned to low and high trait anxiety groups by a median split on the state-trait anxiety inventory trait score. They performed a balloon analogue risk task (BART) where they pumped a balloon on a screen. Each pump yielded either a reward or a balloon pop. If the balloon popped, the accumulated reward was lost. Participants were matched on their behavioral performance. We measured event-related brain potentials time-locked to the presentation of the feedback (balloon increase or pop). Our results showed that the FRN for balloon pops was decreased in the high anxiety group compared to the low anxiety group. We propose that pessimistic expectations triggered by the ambiguity in the BART decreased outcome expectation errors in the high anxiety group indicated by the smaller FRN. Our results highlight the importance of expectation biases at the neural level of decision making in anxiety.