Effects of Acute Stress on Rigid Learning, Flexible Learning, and Value-Based Decision-Making in Spatial Navigation

The current study investigated how stress affects value-based decision-making during spatial navigation and different types of learning underlying decisions. Eighty-two adult participants (42 females) first learned to find object locations in a virtual environment from a fixed starting location (rigid learning) and then to find the same objects from unpredictable starting locations (flexible learning). Participants then decided whether to reach goal objects from the fixed or unpredictable starting location. We found that stress impairs rigid learning in females, and it does not impair, and even improves, flexible learning when performance with rigid learning is controlled for. Critically, examining how earlier learning influences subsequent decision-making using computational models, we found that stress reduces memory integration, making participants more likely to focus on recent memory and less likely to integrate information from other sources. Collectively, our results show how stress impacts different memory systems and the communication between memory and decision-making.

Automated summary

The study examined the impact of stress on value-based decision-making during spatial navigation and different types of learning. It was found that stress impairs rigid learning in females, but does not have negative effects on flexible learning and may even improve it. Computational models revealed that stress reduces memory integration, leading participants to rely more on recent memory and less on information from other sources when making decisions. Overall, the results demonstrate how stress affects different memory systems and the communication between memory and decision-making.