Trait Anxiety Has Effect on Decision Making under Ambiguity but Not Decision Making under Risk.

Long Zhang,Chunyan Zhu,Xingui Chen,Kai Wang,Fengqiong Yu,Ruud van den Bos

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0127189

Long Zhang, Chunyan Zhu + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127189

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Abstract

Previous studies have reported that trait anxiety (TA) affects decision making. However, results remain largely inconsistent across studies. The aim of the current study was to further address the interaction between TA and decision making. 304 subjects without depression from a sample consisting of 642 participants were grouped into high TA (HTA), medium TA (MTA) and low TA (LTA) groups based on their TA scores from State Trait Anxiety Inventory. All subjects were assessed with the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) that measures decision making under ambiguity and the Game of Dice Task (GDT) that measures decision making under risk. While the HTA and LTA groups performed worse on the IGT compared to the MTA group, performances on the GDT between the three groups did not differ. Furthermore, the LTA and HTA groups showed different individual deck level preferences in the IGT: the former showed a preference for deck B indicating that these subjects focused more on the magnitude of rewards, and the latter showed a preference for deck A indicating significant decision making impairment. Our findings suggest that trait anxiety has effect on decision making under ambiguity but not decision making under risk and different levels of trait anxiety related differently to individual deck level preferences in the IGT.

Highlights

In recent years, researchers have accepted the hypothesis that emotions play an important role in human cognition, and many investigators have paid extensive attention to the issue of how emotions influence higher cognitive processes [1]
We classified healthy participants on the Trait Anxiety Inventory (TA-I, a section of the widely used State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) [30] and related their trait anxiety (TA) scores to their performances on decision making under ambiguity as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and decision making under risk as measured by the Game of Dice Task (GDT) to demonstrate interactions between TA and decision making
We found no significant differences between men and women on the TA score in any group (HTA, t(1,95) = −1.05, p = .298; medium TA (MTA), t(1,117) = 0.43, p = .666; low TA (LTA), t(1,86) = −0.44, p = .661)

Summary

Introduction

Researchers have accepted the hypothesis that emotions play an important role in human cognition, and many investigators have paid extensive attention to the issue of how emotions influence higher cognitive processes [1]. Anxiety is a crucial emotion in our daily life. According to the evolutionary perspective, anxiety is an adaptive emotion and has a survival value by enabling the quick and accurate detection of a potential threatening stimulus or situation. The progression from normal to pathological forms of anxiety is thought to be a continuum. People with a high disposition for anxiety, i.e., high trait anxiety (TA), are at more risk for developing one or more anxiety disorders [3,4]. Trait anxiety reflects individual differences in sensitivity to negative or threating stimulus.

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