TY - JOUR PY - 2021// TI - Learning to make smart choices in the context of risk: the roles of internal affective feedback and life events JO - International journal of psychophysiology A1 - Nicholson, Ronald A. A1 - Birk, Jeffrey L. A1 - Bonanno, George A. SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - 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.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0167-8760 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.12.004 ID - ref1 ER -