Experimentally induced and real-world anxiety have no demonstrable effect on goal-directed behaviour

Gillan, Claire M.; Vaghi, Matilde M.; Hezemans, Frank H.; Grothe, Sophia van Ghesel; Dafflon, Jessica; Brühl, A.B.; Savulich, George; Robbins, Trevor W.

doi:10.1017/s0033291720000203

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 70 publications

(146 reference statements)

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“…That said, future work should determine if fear-related impairments in transition learning are entirely driven by compulsivity, especially given that compulsivity scores loaded more strongly onto our OC-Fear factor. In any case, this finding does not contradict a previously observed lack of association between anxiety and model-based control (Gillan et al, 2020b;Heller, Ezie, Otto, & Timpano, 2018), given the former studies did not specifically assay fear symptoms as distinct from classical anxiety symptoms (e.g. worry).…”

Section: Psychological Medicinesupporting

confidence: 55%

Disrupted state transition learning as a computational marker of compulsivity

Sharp

Dolan

Eldar³

2021

Psychol. Med.

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Background Disorders involving compulsivity, fear, and anxiety are linked to beliefs that the world is less predictable. We lack a mechanistic explanation for how such beliefs arise. Here, we test a hypothesis that in people with compulsivity, fear, and anxiety, learning a probabilistic mapping between actions and environmental states is compromised. Methods In Study 1 (n = 174), we designed a novel online task that isolated state transition learning from other facets of learning and planning. To determine whether this impairment is due to learning that is too fast or too slow, we estimated state transition learning rates by fitting computational models to two independent datasets, which tested learning in environments in which state transitions were either stable (Study 2: n = 1413) or changing (Study 3: n = 192). Results Study 1 established that individuals with higher levels of compulsivity are more likely to demonstrate an impairment in state transition learning. Preliminary evidence here linked this impairment to a common factor comprising compulsivity and fear. Studies 2 and 3 showed that compulsivity is associated with learning that is too fast when it should be slow (i.e. when state transition are stable) and too slow when it should be fast (i.e. when state transitions change). Conclusions Together, these findings indicate that compulsivity is associated with a dysregulation of state transition learning, wherein the rate of learning is not well adapted to the task environment. Thus, dysregulated state transition learning might provide a key target for therapeutic intervention in compulsivity.

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Section: Psychological Medicinesupporting

confidence: 55%

Disrupted state transition learning as a computational marker of compulsivity

Sharp

Dolan

Eldar³

2021

Psychol. Med.

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“…Our findings go beyond previous findings that report, in single-goal reinforcement learning tasks, that anxiety is associated with altered MF but intact MB control 40 . Our findings suggest a conflict between punishment avoidance and reward seeking may be necessary to uncover how knowledge of task structure is used in anxiety.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Humans perseverate on punishment avoidance goals in multigoal reinforcement learning

Sharp

Russek

Huys

et al. 2022

eLife

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Managing multiple goals is essential to adaptation, yet we are only beginning to understand computations by which we navigate the resource-demands entailed in so doing. Here, we sought to elucidate how humans balance reward seeking and punishment avoidance goals, and relate this to variation in its expression within anxious individuals. To do so, we developed a novel multigoal pursuit task that includes trial-specific instructed goals to either pursue reward (without risk of punishment) or avoid punishment (without the opportunity for reward). We constructed a computational model of multigoal pursuit to quantify the degree to which participants could disengage from the pursuit goals when instructed to, as well as devote less model-based resources towards goals that were less abundant. In general, participants (n=192) were less flexible in avoiding punishment than in pursuing reward. Thus, when instructed to pursue reward, participants often persisted in avoiding features that had previously been associated with punishment, even though at decision time these features were unambiguously benign. In a similar vein, participants showed no significant downregulation of avoidance when punishment avoidance goals were less abundant in the task. Importantly, we show preliminary evidence that individuals with chronic worry may have difficulty disengaging from punishment avoidance when instructed to seek reward. Taken together, the findings demonstrate that people avoid punishment less flexibly than they pursue reward. Future studies should test in larger samples whether a difficulty to disengage from punishment avoidance contributes to chronic worry.

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“…Previous empirical work has investigated the influence of self-reported anxiety on the propensity to rely on habits rather than goal-directed actions in moderately trained participants, using a variety of paradigms (free-operant conditioning, the two-step task and the slip-of action task). Findings are mixed: two studies found no influence of anxiety on the impairment of goal-directed strategies (Gillan et al 2016, Gillan et al 2020, while other investigations found a relationship between anxiety and the propensity to rely more on habits (Ersche et al 2017;Snorrason et al 2016) or less on goal-directed strategies (Patzelt et al 2019). A single study using a free-operant design like the one employed by Tricomi et al (2009) also found a direct relationship between anxiety and habitual behavior (Alvares et al 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Determining the effects of training duration on the behavioral expression of habitual control in humans: a multi-laboratory investigation

Pool¹,

Gera²,

Fransen³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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It has been suggested that there are two distinct and parallel mechanisms for controlling instrumental behavior in mammals: goal-directed actions and habits. To gain an understanding of how these two systems interact to control behavior, it is essential to characterize the mechanisms by which the balance between these systems is influenced by experience. Studies in rodents have shown that the amount of training governs the relative expression of these two systems: behavior is goal-directed following moderate training, but the more extensively an instrumental action is trained, the more it becomes habitual. It is less clear whether humans exhibit similar training effects on the expression of goal-directed and habitual behavior, as human studies have reported contradictory findings. To tackle these contradictory findings, we formed a consortium, where four laboratories undertook a pre-registered experimental induction of habits by manipulating the amount of training. There was no statistical evidence for a main effect of the amount of training on the formation and expression of habits. However, exploratory analyses suggest a moderating effect of the affective component of stress on the impact of training over habit expression. Participants who were lower in affective stress appeared to be initially goal-directed, but became habitual with increased training, whereas participants who were high in affective stress were already habitual even after moderate training, thereby manifesting insensitivity to overtraining effects. Our findings highlight the importance of the role of moderating variables such as individual differences in stress and anxiety when studying the experimental induction of habits in humans.

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Experimentally induced and real-world anxiety have no demonstrable effect on goal-directed behaviour

Cited by 14 publications

References 70 publications

Disrupted state transition learning as a computational marker of compulsivity

Disrupted state transition learning as a computational marker of compulsivity

Humans perseverate on punishment avoidance goals in multigoal reinforcement learning

Determining the effects of training duration on the behavioral expression of habitual control in humans: a multi-laboratory investigation

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