Stress and Anxiety Effects on Valuation

NYU Langone Health200 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this study is to understand how stress, anxiety, and negative affect change learning and decision-making processes. The primary objective is to assess two forms of decision-making-reward adaptation and emotion prediction errors-differ as a function of stress and anxiety. The secondary objectives are to assess how individual differences measured in our studies relate to these decision variables.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

200

Conditions

Reward Value Level

Interventions

Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor Task (SECPT)BEHAVIORAL

The SECPT is a validated laboratory stressor that combines physiological stress with social evaluative components; it is widely used to elicit acute stress responses in controlled settings. Participants are asked to submerge their nondominant hand into an ice-cold water (0-4°C) for 3 minutes, while videotaped and observed by one neutral-faced experimenter.

Non-Stressful Control TaskBEHAVIORAL

Participants assigned to the warm water control condition will perform a non-evaluative task with warm water.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 65 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: Aims 1-3: To be eligible for participation in this study, an individual must meet all of the following criteria: * 18-65 years of age * Able to speak, read, and write fluently in English * Be willing and able to follow study procedures and provide informed consent. Aim 4: To be eligible for participation in this study, an individual must meet all of the following criteria: * 18-65 years of age * Diagnosis of GAD * Able to speak, read, and write fluently in English * Be willing and able to follow study procedures and provide informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: Aims 1-3: Individuals will be excluded from participation if any of the following criteria are met: * History of or medication for neurologic or psychiatric disease * High-blood pressure or heart condition * Diabetes, food allergies, metabolic disorders or history of eating disorder * Use of corticosteroids or beta-blockers * Pregnancy Aim 4: Individuals will be excluded from participation if any of the following criteria are met: * High-blood pressure or heart condition * Diabetes, food allergies, metabolic disorders or history of eating disorder * Use of corticosteroids or beta-blockers * Lifetime history of bipolar disorder or any psychotic disorder; substance use disorder in past 3 months; eating disorder in past 6 months; current major depressive disorder (past is allowed) * Active suicidal ideation with plan and intent (indicated by score \>=4 on the Columbia Suicide Severity Scale) * Not on stable dose of psychiatric medication for at least 4 weeks prior to study participation * Pregnancy

Locations (1)

NYU Langone Health

New York, New York, United States

RECRUITING

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Subjective Value Assigned to Food Stimuli

Measured as participants' willingness-to-pay ($) for snack foods across the behavioral task. (Aims 1 and 4).