The Effects of Anxiety and Reward Sensitivity on the Interplay Between Emotion and Reward Processing.

Abstract

This study investigated the interplay between reward and emotion processing and examines the influence of individual differences, specifically anxiety and reward sensitivity, on these cognitive processes. Using a within-subjects design, 50 university students completed three associative matching tasks: emotional valence, value-based reward, and a control task. Participants' accuracy and response times (RTs) were measured alongside self-reported questionnaires assessing state-trait anxiety and sensitivity to reward. The results demonstrated significant prioritisation effects for both reward and emotion processing. Participants showed higher accuracy and faster RTs for positive emotional stimuli (happy) and higher reward stimuli (medium and high rewards). The medium reward condition yielded the highest accuracy, suggesting a non-linear processing scale in reward evaluation. For emotional valence, happy stimuli were processed more accurately and faster than neutral or sad stimuli. Notably, sad stimuli also showed prioritisation over neutral stimuli, indicating that negative emotions can similarly enhance cognitive performance due to their evolutionary significance. Individual differences played a crucial role in modulating these effects. Higher levels of state and trait anxiety were associated with reduced accuracy for happy stimuli. Conversely, no significant correlations were found between reward sensitivity and the prioritisation effects in either accuracy or RT, suggesting that reward sensitivity may not significantly influence these cognitive processes within the sample. These findings align with behavioural studies that emphasise how emotional valence and reward magnitude can affect cognitive performance. The implications for clinical practice include the potential for personalised therapeutic interventions tailored to individuals' anxiety and reward sensitivity profiles. Future research should incorporate more diverse samples and employ realistic stimuli to enhance ecological validity. Additionally, further exploration of individual differences is essential. For instance, the observed influence of anxiety on cognitive processing highlights the need to better understand how anxiety affects prioritisation of emotional stimuli. Likewise, improving the measurement of reward sensitivity is also important, as current tools may not fully capture its nuances. Addressing these areas will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the complex dynamics of reward and emotion processing.