Increased generalisation in trait anxiety is driven by aversive value transfer

TL;DR

This study shows that people with higher anxiety generalize threats more due to value transfer, not just perceptual errors.

Contribution

The paper identifies value-based mechanisms as the key driver of threat generalization in trait anxiety.

Findings

Individuals with higher trait anxiety show stronger generalization of aversive values.

Computational models reveal that value transfer, not perceptual errors, explains this generalization.

Participants differ in how they generalize values and the shape of their value functions.

Abstract

Anxiety has been linked to increased generalisation of threat expectations to perceptually similar stimuli. Such generalisation can arise either from a failure to distinguish threatening from non-threatening stimuli (perceptual mechanism) or from the transfer of learned values between stimuli (value-based mechanism). Yet, how these mechanisms contribute to generalisation remains unclear. Here we assess how participants (n = 140) generalise outcome expectancies to perceptually similar stimuli, using personalised stimulus spaces. Computational modelling revealed that individuals differ in the extent to which they generalise value and in the underlying value function. We further found that stronger generalisation in trait anxiety was best explained by greater reliance on value transfer. In this work, we characterise individual differences in the generalisation of aversive stimuli and link stronger generalisation in trait anxiety to preferential reliance on value transfer.

Anxiety is associated with increased generalisation of threat to similar stimuli. This paper used computational modelling to dissociate perceptual mistakes from value generalisation and links stronger value-transfer to trait anxiety.

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