@article{ref1,
title="Learning to make smart choices in the context of risk: the roles of internal affective feedback and life events",
journal="International journal of psychophysiology",
year="2021",
author="Nicholson, Ronald A. and Birk, Jeffrey L. and Bonanno, George A.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="Autonomic arousal may facilitate beneficial decision-making when the link between choices and outcomes is uncertain. However, it is unknown whether greater  risk-specific autonomic arousal is linearly associated with faster learning to avoid  risky decisions. Furthermore, although the influence of stress on decision-making is  well documented, it is unknown whether recent life stress might moderate the  relationship between this internal affective feedback and decision-making. We report  two studies using the Iowa Gambling Task with diverse community samples. Each study  demonstrated a linear relationship between the level of autonomic arousal prior to  risky decision-making and the rate of learning to avoid risk. Additionally,  participants' recent life events conditionally moderated this association. Specifically, the relationship between risk-specific arousal and advantageous  learning was strongest for participants who experienced relatively more positive and  fewer negative life events in the previous four months. These findings suggest that  autonomic arousal may generally inform decision-making, but less so when life  circumstances are relatively poor.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0167-8760",
doi="10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.12.004",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.12.004"
}