Trait Somatic Anxiety is Associated With Reduced Directed Exploration and Underestimation of Uncertainty

Abstract

Exploration is at the core of many real-life decisions, helping people gain information about the environment and make better choices in the long run. Although anxiety has been related to decreased physical exploration and avoidance behavior, past findings on the interaction between anxiety and exploration during decision-making under uncertainty were inconclusive. The current study provides a holistic picture of the anxiety-exploration relationship by focusing on latent factors of trait anxiety and different exploration strategies when facing volatility-induced uncertainty. Across two well-powered online studies (N = 984), we demonstrated that people used a hybrid of directed, random, and undirected exploration strategies, which were respectively sensitive to relative uncertainty, total uncertainty, and value difference. The somatic factor of trait anxiety, the propensity to experience physical symptoms of anxiety, was inversely correlated with directed exploration and undirected exploration, manifesting as being less likely to choose the uncertain option and reducing choice stochasticity regardless of uncertainty. Trait somatic anxiety was also related to underestimation of relative uncertainty, which could potentially account for its negative impact on directed exploration. Together, these results reveal the selective role of trait somatic anxiety in modulating both uncertainty-driven and value-driven exploration strategies. More crucially, the differential effects of trait anxiety components underscore the importance of adopting a dimensional approach in future studies.

Oscillations in anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex explain learning alterations in trait anxiety

“…14 , state-anxious individuals underestimated informational and environmental uncertainty. Similar to the state anxiety results, the somatic ("physiological") component of trait anxiety has been linked to underestimation of uncertainty and relative uncertainty between choices during exploration [15][16] .…”

Testosterone eliminates strategic prosocial behavior through impacting choice consistency in healthy males

“…Indeed, earlier research shows that exogenous testosterone diminishes the physiological stress response to the presence of an observer 12 and has anxiolytic-like properties in humans and across species 10,35,36 . Importantly, anxiety and stress were reported to inversely correlate with exploratory behavior 37,38 . Moreover, social anxiety levels positively predict prosocial behavior performed while being watched 14 .…”

A computational neuroscience perspective on subjective wellbeing within the active inference framework

“…Empirical studies in AI have only very recently begun to examine differences in preference precision (and hence informationseeking; see (Smith, Schwartenbeck, et al, 2020;Smith, Taylor, Stewart, et al, 2021)). However, work on exploratory drives within expanded RL models has suggested altered patterns of information-seeking in depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric disorders (Aberg et al, 2022;Fan et al, 2021;Smith, Taylor, Wilson, et al, 2021;Waltz et al, 2020). Whether and how information-seeking drives relate to SWB has not been empirically assessed (for some interesting Smith,Varshney,Nagayama,Kazama,Kitagawa,Managi,& Ishikawa www.internationaljournalofwellbeing.org 14 recent theoretical discussion, see (Miller et al, 2022)).…”

“…By extension, these model elements also offer possible explanations for cultural differences, which can be viewed as computational phenotypes that are similar in individuals within a culture but differ from individuals in other cultures. For example, perhaps some cultures place more value than others on reflective practices (e.g., heightened attention to one's own uncertainty, more frequent engagement in prospection/retrospection) that would be expected to increase information-seeking and planning horizon (e.g., see (Fan et al, 2021;Gershman, 2018;Jackson et al, 2020;Kaplan & Friston, 2018;Smith, Taylor, Wilson, et al, 2022)). Or perhaps some cultures tend to share implicit expectations that the social environment is more volatile than others.…”

“…Reduced levels of anxiety due to the belief that the world is more predictable Preference precision (C): Reward-seeking vs. information-seeking Explore-exploit and multi-arm bandit tasks (Fan et al, 2021;Smith, Schwartenbeck, et al, 2020;Smith, Taylor, Stewart, et al, 2021;Wilson et al, 2014) Increasing awareness of uncertainty (cognitive and behavioral therapeutic interventions; (Barlow et al, 2016;Segal et al, 2004)), altering incentive structure (Ederer & Manso, 2013) Reduced avoidance behavior, impulsivity, and/or uncertainty due to optimizing the balance between reward-seeking and informationseeking Expected free energy precision (𝛾) Limited offer (risktaking) task (Schwartenbeck et al, 2015), approachavoidance conflict task (Smith, Kirlic, Stewart, Touthang, Kuplicki, Khalsa, et al, 2021; Interventions targeting self-efficacy, confidence, self-determination, etc.…”