title: Trait Anxiety Has Effect on Decision Making under Ambiguity but Not Decision Making under Risk.
abstract: Previous studies have reported that trait anxiety (TA) affects decision making. However, results remain largely inconsistent across studies. The aim of the current study was to further address the interaction between TA and decision making. 304 subjects without depression from a sample consisting of 642 participants were grouped into high TA (HTA), medium TA (MTA) and low TA (LTA) groups based on their TA scores from State Trait Anxiety Inventory. All subjects were assessed with the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) that measures decision making under ambiguity and the Game of Dice Task (GDT) that measures decision making under risk. While the HTA and LTA groups performed worse on the IGT compared to the MTA group, performances on the GDT between the three groups did not differ. Furthermore, the LTA and HTA groups showed different individual deck level preferences in the IGT: the former showed a preference for deck B indicating that these subjects focused more on the magnitude of rewards, and the latter showed a preference for deck A indicating significant decision making impairment. Our findings suggest that trait anxiety has effect on decision making under ambiguity but not decision making under risk and different levels of trait anxiety related differently to individual deck level preferences in the IGT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China; Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China; Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Chunyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Fengqiong
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China; Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Xingui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012306:Risk; D012309:Risk-Taking; D035501:Uncertainty; D055815:Young Adult