The Effects of Chronic Stress and Anxiety on Neural Decision Making

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dc.contributor.authorRowe, Juliet M.
dc.date.accessioned2021-07-26T23:34:51Z
dc.date.available2021-07-26T23:34:51Z
dc.date.copyright2021en_US
dc.date.issued2021-07-26
dc.description.abstractStress may alter executive functioning by causing structural and functional changes to the brain. Sub-optimal decisions made under high levels of stress and anxiety may act as a mediator for stress-related health effects. We examined the effect of three personality traits – chronic stress, state anxiety, and trait anxiety – on updating working memory and feedback learning across 330 participants, using EEG. We hypothesized a decrease in P300 (updating working memory) and reward positivity (feedback learning) amplitudes with increasing chronic stress and anxiety scores. The three personality traits were not correlated with reward positivity amplitudes. Additionally, chronic stress had no effect had no effect on P300 amplitudes. However, state and trait anxiety were negatively correlated with P300 amplitudes. Anxiety appears to impact working memory processes, and this effect was amplified with decreasing anxiety score quantiles to reflect the tails of the distribution. Our results are evidence of the beginnings of a correlation between anxiety and the neural correlates of decision-making, offering insight into anxiety-related adverse health outcomes.en_US
dc.description.reviewstatusRevieweden_US
dc.description.scholarlevelUndergraduateen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipJamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA)en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/13185
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subjectchronic stressen_US
dc.subjectanxietyen_US
dc.subjectdecision-makingen_US
dc.subjectEEGen_US
dc.subjectP300en_US
dc.subjectreward positivityen_US
dc.titleThe Effects of Chronic Stress and Anxiety on Neural Decision Makingen_US
dc.typePosteren_US

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