Abstract
Though real-world decisions are often made in the shadow of economic uncertainties, work problems, relationship troubles, existential angst, etc., the neural processes involved in this common experience remain poorly understood. Here, we randomly assigned participants (N = 97) to either a poignant experience of forecasted economic anxiety or a no-anxiety control condition. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we then examined how source-localized, anxiety-specific neural activation modulated risky decision making and strategic behavior in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Previous research demonstrates opposing effects of anxiety on risk-taking, leading to contrasting predictions. On the one hand, activity in the dorsomedial PFC/anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and anterior insula, brain regions linked with anxiety and sensitivity to risk, should mediate the effect of economic anxiety on increased risk-averse decision-making. On the other hand, activation in the ventromedial PFC, a brain region important in emotion regulation and subjective valuation in decision-making, should mediate the effect of economic anxiety on increased risky decision-making. Results revealed evidence related to both predictions. Additionally, anxiety-specific activation in the dmPFC/ACC and the anterior insula were associated with disrupted learning across the task. These results shed light on the neurobiology of antecedent anxiety and risk-taking and provide potential insight into understanding how real-world anxieties can impact decision-making processes.
Highlights
Though real-world decisions are often made in the shadow of economic uncertainties, work problems, relationship troubles, existential angst, etc., the neural processes involved in this common experience remain poorly understood
In one-way ANOVA analyses, we found that the Economic Anxiety condition caused increased Negative Affect (M = 2.560, standard deviation (SD) = 0.787), compared to the No-Anxiety Control condition (M = 1.884, SD = 0.766), F(1, 95) = 17.943, p < 0.0001, η2p = 0.159
Because activity in the beta[2] frequency band is associated with increased cortical activation, these results demonstrate that the Economic Anxiety condition causes increased dorsomedial PFC (dmPFC)/dACC activation
Summary
Though real-world decisions are often made in the shadow of economic uncertainties, work problems, relationship troubles, existential angst, etc., the neural processes involved in this common experience remain poorly understood. Activity in the dorsomedial PFC/anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and anterior insula, brain regions linked with anxiety and sensitivity to risk, should mediate the effect of economic anxiety on increased risk-averse decision-making. Anxiety-specific activation in the dmPFC/ACC and the anterior insula were associated with disrupted learning across the task These results shed light on the neurobiology of antecedent anxiety and risk-taking and provide potential insight into understanding how real-world anxieties can impact decision-making processes. Prior neuroeconomic research has exclusively examined coincidental anxiety manipulations— i.e., manipulations during the risk-taking task in a within-subjects design This approach has provided key insights into the neurobiology of decision-making processes. Research on the neural processes in antecedent anxiety could shed light on how and why real-world anxious events modulate downstream decision-making[14]. We examined risk-taking behavior using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART30)
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