The effects of stress on neural processing of reward and risk

描述（由申请人提供）：压力是日常生活的一部分；在一项全国性研究中，40%的受访者表示当天感到压力。我们从许多研究中得知，压力会影响健康、记忆力和幸福感。但它会影响我们做决定的方式吗？如果是这样的话，这意味着什么——我们会变得更不愿意冒险吗？与其他情况相比，我们是否更容易受到潜在不利因素的影响而较少受到潜在有利因素的影响？做决定涉及到一套复杂而灵活的大脑机制，它计算选项的潜在价值，并根据结果的不确定性程度调整价值。在本文中，我们研究了急性应激对决策基本要素的影响：预测和表示价值的神经信号，整合期权的积极和消极方面，并基于预测的波动性和期权的不确定性评估风险。我们检验了两个主要假设。首先，压力通过腹侧纹状体中的多巴胺能作用，使奖励刺激更具吸引力和显著性。第二种是，压力通过脑岛影响风险处理，但根据性别和年龄的不同，影响也不同。我们的一些最重要的决定必须在有压力的情况下做出；因此，了解压力如何改变我们评估决策选择的方式的基本机制是至关重要的。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Stress is part of daily life; in a national study 40% of respondents reported experiencing stress that day. We know from many studies that stress can affect health, memory, and well-being. But does it affect how we make decisions? And if so, what are the implications-do we become more or less risk averse? Are we more influenced by the potential downsides and less by potential upsides to an option than we would be otherwise? Making decisions involves a complex yet flexible set of brain mechanisms that compute the potential value of options and adjust that value based on the level of uncertainty about the outcome. In this proposal, we examine the effects of acute stress on the basic elements of decision making: the neural signals that predict and represent value, integrate the positive and negative aspects of options, and assess risk based on predicted volatility and uncertainty of options. We test two main hypotheses. The first is that stress makes rewarding stimuli even more attractive and salient, via dopaminergic effects in the ventral striatum. The second is that stress affects risk processing via the insula, but that it has different effects depending on one's sex and age. Some of our most important decisions must be made under stressful circumstances; thus it is paramount that we understand the basic mechanisms of how stress changes the way we evaluate decision options. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Important decisions, such as those regarding personal finances and health care, often involve substantial stress, especially among older adults. The studies in this proposal will provide important information about how stress affects those decisions and how risk averse people are. Making optimal decisions is challenging even under the best of circumstances; these findings should provide critical information for understanding how to improve decision making under stress.