Search Papers | Poster Sessions | All Posters
Poster B28 in Poster Session B - Thursday, August 8, 2024, 1:30 – 3:30 pm, Johnson Ice Rink
Anxiety is associated with reduced pupillary response to volatility
Sophie Shang1 (), Michael Browning1; 1University of Oxford
This study examines how individuals distinguish and adapt to volatility and noise, and whether mood disorders modulate such adaptation. Fifty healthy participants were recruited based on varying depression levels and completed a coin catching task under varying volatility and noise conditions. Learning rates (LRs) and pupil responses served as behavioral and physiological adaptation indicators. As expected, results showed increased LRs under high volatility and decreased LRs in noisy conditions. Pupil dilation tracked environmental volatility but was not significantly affected by noise. Notably, higher trait anxiety correlated with reduced pupillary reactions to volatility. The findings suggest that humans normatively adjust to environmental uncertainties, and mood disorders might influence this adaptability. The study enhances understanding of individual differences in learning under uncertainty and the impact of affective states on such processes.
Keywords: uncertainty reinforcement learning; computational psychiatry computational psychiatry