Zwosta Katharina, Karcz Tatjana, Möschl Marcus, Walser Moritz, Goschke Thomas, Ruge Hannes, Wolfensteller Uta
Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
PLoS One. 2025 Sep 8;20(9):e0327807. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0327807. eCollection 2025.
Previous studies suggested that acute stress can impair flexible goal-directed action control in favor of habitual action control. In addition, there is evidence that acute stress differentially affects the processing of rewards and punishments. Therefore, we aimed at investigating whether acute stress affects the balance between goal-directed and habitual behavior not only for behavior aiming at reward but also for behavior motivated by avoiding punishments. In two experiments, a total of 129 participants either underwent a standardized procedure to induce acute stress or a control procedure. Habitual approach and avoidance behavior was established by extensively training participants on responses resulting in either gaining a monetary reward or avoiding a monetary loss. Subsequently, the strength of the resulting habits was tested in the habit-goal competition task. We found no evidence for acute stress to influence the acquisition of novel behaviors or the resulting habit strength, neither for approach nor for avoidance behavior. This result remained when inter-individual differences in cortisol reactivity and subjective reports of chronic stress were taken into account. Together, our results speak against a general effect of acute stress boosting the behavioral impact of habitual behavior on goal-directed action control.
先前的研究表明，急性应激会损害灵活的目标导向行动控制，而有利于习惯性行动控制。此外，有证据表明急性应激对奖励和惩罚的处理有不同影响。因此，我们旨在研究急性应激是否不仅影响针对奖励的行为，还影响为避免惩罚而产生的行为中目标导向行为和习惯性行为之间的平衡。在两项实验中，共有129名参与者要么接受诱导急性应激的标准化程序，要么接受对照程序。通过广泛训练参与者做出导致获得金钱奖励或避免金钱损失的反应来建立习惯性趋近和回避行为。随后，在习惯-目标竞争任务中测试所形成习惯的强度。我们没有发现证据表明急性应激会影响新行为的习得或所形成习惯的强度，无论是趋近行为还是回避行为。当考虑到个体间皮质醇反应性的差异和慢性应激的主观报告时，这一结果仍然成立。总之，我们的结果表明，急性应激并没有普遍增强习惯性行为对目标导向行动控制的行为影响。
