Experimentally induced and real-world anxiety have no demonstrable effect on goal-directed behaviour

Abstract Background Goal-directed control guides optimal decision-making and it is an important cognitive faculty that protects against developing habits. Previous studies have found some evidence of goal-directed deficits when healthy individuals are stressed, and in psychiatric conditions characterised by compulsive behaviours and anxiety. Here, we tested if goal-directed control is affected by state anxiety, which might explain the former results. Methods We carried out a causal test of this hypothesis in two experiments (between-subject N = 88; within-subject N = 50) that used the inhalation of hypercapnic gas (7.5% CO2) to induce an acute state of anxiety in healthy volunteers. In a third experiment (N = 1413), we used a correlational design to test if real-life anxiety-provoking events (panic attacks, stressful events) are associated with impaired goal-directed control. Results In the former two causal experiments, we induced a profoundly anxious state, both physiologically and psychologically, but this did not affect goal-directed performance. In the third, correlational, study, we found no evidence for an association between goal-directed control, panic attacks or stressful life eventsover and above variance accounted for by trait differences in compulsivity. Conclusions In sum, three complementary experiments found no evidence that anxiety impairs goal-directed control in human subjects.

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Experimentally-induced and real-world acute anxiety have no effect on goal-directed behaviour

10.1101/606145 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

CM Gillan ◽

MM Vaghi ◽

FH Hezemans ◽

Grothe S van Ghesel ◽

J Dafflon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Anxiety Disorders ◽

Healthy Volunteers ◽

Real World ◽

Real Life ◽

Stressful Events ◽

Panic Attacks ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Correlational Design ◽

Acute Anxiety

AbstractCompulsivity is associated with failures in goal-directed control, an important cognitive faculty that protects against developing habits. But might this effect be explained by co-occurring anxiety? Previous studies have found goal-directed deficits in other anxiety disorders, and to some extent when healthy individuals are stressed, suggesting this is plausible. We carried out a causal test of this hypothesis in two experiments (between-subject N=88; within-subject N=50) that used the inhalation of hypercapnic gas (7.5% CO2) to induce an acute state of anxiety in healthy volunteers. In both experiments, we successfully induced anxiety, assessed physiologically and psychologically, but this did not affect goal-directed performance. In a third experiment (N=1413), we used a correlational design to test if real-life anxiety-provoking events (panic attacks, stressful events) impair goal-directed control. While small effects were observed, none survived controlling for individual differences in compulsivity. These data suggest that anxiety has no meaningful impact on goal-directed control.

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Design of coordination contract for quality control-based supply chain under consumer balking behavior with fuzzy environment

Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems ◽

10.3233/jifs-189652 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Chongfeng Lan

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Quality Control ◽

Supply Chain ◽

Wholesale Price ◽

Real Life ◽

Optimal Strategies ◽

Optimal Decision ◽

Fuzzy Environment ◽

Decentralized Decision Making ◽

Optimal Decision Making

Considering the ubiquity of consumer balking behavior (CBB) in real-life economics and the importance of product quality control (QC) to supply chain (SC) competitiveness, this paper explores the SC coordination under both the QC and the CBB. Specifically, the consumer’s loss aversion behavior was illustrated at a fixed balking probability, and the SC models were created for centralized and decentralized decision-making modes. After that, the optimal strategies for the retailer and the manufacturer were identified, and the comparative static analysis was adopted to explore the effects of the CBB and QC on the optimal decision-making of the SC. The research results show that the QC-based SC under the CBB cannot be coordinated by wholesale price contract alone, but can be coordinated perfectly by this contract when the retailer shares the quality effort and the manufacturer shares the oversupply cost and analyzed through the fuzzy environment with the formulation. This finding sheds new light on the theory and application of wholesale price contract in SC coordination. Finally, the parameter sensitivity analysis was performed on balking probability and product qualification rate (PQR) through numerical experiments, which further discloses the impacts of the CBB and product QC on the optimal decision-making and profit of the SC.

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Flexibility to contingency changes distinguishes habitual and goal-directed strategies in humans

10.1101/107078 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Julie J. Lee ◽

Mehdi Keramati

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Reinforcement Learning ◽

Human Subjects ◽

Relative Influence ◽

Optimal Decision ◽

Hybrid Strategy ◽

Model Free ◽

Optimal Decision Making ◽

Value Changes ◽

Change Task

AbstractDecision-making in the real world presents the challenge of requiring flexible yet prompt behavior, a balance that has been characterized in terms of a trade-off between a slower, prospective goal-directed model-based (MB) strategy and a fast, retrospective habitual model-free (MF) strategy. Theory predicts that flexibility to changes in both reward values and transition contingencies can determine the relative influence of the two systems in reinforcement learning, but few studies have manipulated the latter. Therefore, we developed a novel two-level contingency change task in which transition contingencies between states change every few trials; MB and MF control predict different responses following these contingency changes, allowing their relative influence to be inferred. Additionally, we manipulated the rate of contingency changes in order to determine whether contingency change volatility would play a role in shifting subjects between a MB and MF strategy. We found that human subjects employed a hybrid MB/MF strategy on the task, corroborating the parallel contribution of MB and MF systems in reinforcement learning. Further, subjects did not remain at one level of MB/MF behavior but rather displayed a shift towards more MB behavior over the first two blocks that was not attributable to the rate of contingency changes but rather to the extent of training. We demonstrate that flexibility to contingency changes can distinguish MB and MF strategies, with human subjects utilizing a hybrid strategy that shifts towards more MB behavior over blocks, consequently corresponding to a higher payoff.Author SummaryTo make good decisions, we must learn to associate actions with their true outcomes. Flexibility to changes in action/outcome relationships, therefore, is essential for optimal decision-making. For example, actions can lead to outcomes that change in value – one day, your favorite food is poorly made and thus less pleasant. Alternatively, changes can occur in terms of contingencies – ordering a dish of one kind and instead receiving another. How we respond to such changes is indicative of our decision-making strategy; habitual learners will continue to choose their favorite food even if the quality has gone down, whereas goal-directed learners will soon learn it is better to choose another dish. A popular paradigm probes the effect of value changes on decision making, but the effect of contingency changes is still unexplored. Therefore, we developed a novel task to study the latter. We find that humans used a mixed habitual/goal-directed strategy in which they became more goal-directed over the course of the task, and also earned more rewards with increasing goal-directed behavior. This shows that flexibility to contingency changes is adaptive for learning from rewards, and indicates that flexibility to contingency changes can reveal which decision-making strategy is used.

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OPTIMAL DECISION MAKING WHEN PLANNING MOBILE COMMUNICATION NETWORKS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT A SET OF QUALITY FACTORS

Telecommunications and Radio Engineering ◽

10.1615/telecomradeng.v74.i18.40 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 74 (18) ◽

pp. 1635-1649

Author(s):

V. M. Bezruk ◽

D. V. Chebotaryova

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Communication Networks ◽

Mobile Communication ◽

Optimal Decision ◽

Quality Factors ◽

Mobile Communication Networks ◽

Optimal Decision Making

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Pharmacological treatment with L-DOPA may reduce striatal dopamine transporter binding in in vivo imaging studies

Nuklearmedizin ◽

10.3413/nukmed-0764-15-08 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 55 (01) ◽

pp. 21-28 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

C. Antke ◽

H. Hautzel ◽

H.-W. Mueller ◽

S. Nikolaus

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Binding Sites ◽

Human Subjects ◽

Synaptic Cleft ◽

Presynaptic Terminal ◽

Imaging Studies ◽

Psychiatric Conditions ◽

Da Release

SummaryNumerous neurologic and psychiatric conditions are treated with pharmacological compounds, which lead to an increase of synaptic dopamine (DA) levels. One example is the DA precursor L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA), which is converted to DA in the presynaptic terminal. If the increase of DA concentrations in the synaptic cleft leads to competition with exogenous radioligands for presynaptic binding sites, this may have implications for DA transporter (DAT) imaging studies in patients under DAergic medication.This paper gives an overview on those findings, which, so far, have been obtained on DAT binding in human Parkinson’s disease after treatment with L-DOPA. Findings, moreover, are related to results obtained on rats, mice or non-human primates. Results indicate that DAT imaging may be reduced in the striata of healthy animals, in the unlesioned striata of animal models of unilateral Parkinson’s disease and in less severly impaired striata of Parkinsonian patients, if animal or human subjects are under acute or subchronic treatment with L-DOPA. If also striatal DAT binding is susceptible to alterations of synaptic DA levels, this may allow to quantify DA reuptake in analogy to DA release by assessing the competition between endogenous DA and the administered exogenous DAT radioligand.

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