Individual differences in naturalistic learning link negative emotionality to the development of anxiety.

ABSTRACT: Organisms learn from prediction errors (PEs) to predict the future. Laboratory studies using small financial outcomes find that humans use PEs to update expectations and link individual differences in PE-based learning to internalizing disorders. Because of the low-stakes outcomes in most tasks, it is unclear whether PE learning emerges in naturalistic, high-stakes contexts and whether individual differences in PE learning predict psychopathology risk. Using experience sampling to assess 625 college students' expected exam grades, we found evidence of PE-based learning and a general tendency to discount negative PEs, an "optimism bias." However, individuals with elevated negative emotionality, a personality trait linked to the development of anxiety disorders, displayed a global pessimism

SUBMITTER: Villano WJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9812386 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature