Stress reduces use of negative feedback in a feedback-based learning task

In contrast to the well-established effects of stress on learning of declarative material, much less is known about stress effects on reward- or feedback-based learning. Differential effects on positive and negative feedback especially have received little attention. The objective of this study, thus, was to investigate effects of psychosocial stress on feedback-based learning with a particular focus on the use of negative and positive feedback during learning. Participants completed a probabilistic selection task in both a stress and a control condition. The task allowed quantification of how much participants relied on positive and negative feedback during learning. Although stress had no effect on general acquisition of the task, results indicate that participants used negative feedback significantly less during learning after stress compared with the control condition. An enhancing effect of stress on use of positive feedback failed to reach significance. These findings suggest that stress acts differentially on the use of positive and negative feedback during learning. Keywords: psychosocial stress, reward-based learning, cortisol DOI: 10.1037/a0018930