Acute stress has been shown to influence reward sensitivity, feedback learning, and risk-taking during decision-making, primarily through activation of the hypothalamic pituitary axis (HPA). However, it is unclear how acute stress affects decision-making among choices that vary in their degree of uncertainty. To address this question, we conducted two experiments in which participants repeatedly chose between two options—a high-uncertainty option that offered highly variable rewards but was advantageous in the long-term, and a low-uncertainty option that offered smaller yet more consistent rewards. The Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor Task (SECPT) was utilized to induce acute stress. Participants in Experiment 1 (N = 114) were exposed to either the SECPT or a warm-water control condition and then completed the decision-making under uncertainty task. Compared to the control condition, those exposed to the acute stress manipulation chose the high-uncertainty option that provided highly variable but larger rewards over the option that provided stable, smaller rewards. Experiment 2 (N = 95) incorporated a salivary cortisol measure. Results replicated the behavioral findings in Experiment 1 and demonstrated that the acute stress manipulation increased salivary cortisol. This work suggests that moderate acute stress is associated with tolerance of outcome variability in contexts that depend on learning to maximize rewards.

研究表明，急性应激主要通过激活下丘脑垂体轴（HPA）来影响奖励敏感性，反馈学习和冒险决策。但是，尚不清楚急性压力如何影响不确定性程度不同的选择之间的决策。为了解决这个问题，我们进行了两个实验，参与者在两个选项之间反复选择：一个高不确定性选项，提供了可变的奖励，但长期来看是有利的；一个低不确定性选项，提供了较小但更一致的奖励。社会评估的冷压任务（SECPT）被用来诱发急性压力。实验1（N = 114）暴露于SECPT或温水控制条件下，然后完成不确定性任务下的决策。与控制条件相比，那些受到急性压力操纵的人选择了高不确定性选项，该选项提供了多变的但较大的回报，而不是提供稳定的，较小的奖励。实验2（N  = 95）采用了唾液皮质醇测量。结果重复了实验1中的行为发现，并证明了急性应激操作增加了唾液皮质醇。这项工作表明，在依赖于学习以最大化回报的情况下，中度急性应激与对结果变异的耐受性相关。