Previous studies have reported the effects of stress on decision making. However, the wide range of findings make it difficult to identify the fundamental effects of stress on decision making and, therefore, how stress affects decision making remains unknown. To investigate the influence of stress on decision making, we employed “vicarious trial and error” (VTE), which refers to a rat’s behavior of orienting the head toward options at a decision point. VTE is thought to reflect mental simulation for possible options preceding a decision. We examined effects of acute restraint stress on VTE in a T-maze choice task. VTE depended on learning and past reward outcomes. Acute restraint stress before rats ran the T-maze choice task induced VTE, especially in trials with low demand of VTE, and increased the number of head orientations and time spent during each VTE. On the other hand, stress did not affect task performance (probability of advantageous choice) and patterns of behavioral choice (win-stay lose-shift, exploration–exploitation). In addition, stress activated serotonergic and noradrenergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus and locus coeruleus, which are modulators of impulsivity and attentional control in decision making. These results suggest that stress in decision making drives the VTE process, which may lead to deep consideration, over-thinking, and indecisiveness.

以前的研究报告了压力对决策的影响。然而，广泛的发现使得很难确定压力对决策的基本影响，因此，压力如何影响决策仍然未知。为了研究压力对决策的影响，我们采用了“替代试验和错误”（VTE），这是指大鼠在决策点将头部朝向选项的行为。VTE 被认为反映了在做出决定之前对可能选项的心理模拟。我们在 T 迷宫选择任务中检查了急性束缚应激对 VTE 的影响。VTE 取决于学习和过去的奖励结果。大鼠运行 T 迷宫选择任务前的急性约束应激诱发 VTE，尤其是在 VTE 需求低的试验中，并增加了每次 VTE 期间头部方向的数量和花费的时间。另一方面，压力不影响任务绩效（有利选择的概率）和行为选择模式（赢-留-输-转移，探索-利用）。此外，压力会激活中缝背核和蓝斑中的血清素能和去甲肾上腺素能神经元，它们是决策过程中冲动和注意力控制的调节剂。这些结果表明决策中的压力会推动 VTE 过程，这可能会导致深思熟虑、过度思考和优柔寡断。应激激活中缝背核和蓝斑中的血清素能和去甲肾上腺素能神经元，它们是决策过程中冲动和注意力控制的调节剂。这些结果表明决策中的压力会推动 VTE 过程，这可能会导致深思熟虑、过度思考和优柔寡断。应激激活中缝背核和蓝斑中的血清素能和去甲肾上腺素能神经元，它们是决策过程中冲动和注意力控制的调节剂。这些结果表明决策中的压力会推动 VTE 过程，这可能会导致深思熟虑、过度思考和优柔寡断。