Directed exploration is reduced by an aversive interoceptive state induction in healthy individuals but not in those with affective disorders.

ABSTRACT: Elevated anxiety and uncertainty avoidance are known to exacerbate maladaptive choice in individuals with affective disorders. However, the differential roles of state vs. trait anxiety remain unclear, and underlying computational mechanisms have not been thoroughly characterized. In the present study, we investigated how a somatic (interoceptive) state anxiety induction influences learning and decision-making under uncertainty in individuals with clinically significant levels of trait anxiety. A sample of 58 healthy comparisons (HCs) and 61 individuals with affective disorders displaying elevated anxiety symptoms (iADs; i.e., anxiety and/or depression) completed a previously validated explore-exploit decision task, with and without an added breathing resistance manipulation designed to in

SUBMITTER: Li N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12339384 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature