Autonomic arousal may facilitate beneficial decision-making when the link between choices and outcomes is uncertain. However, it is unknown whether greater risk-specific autonomic arousal is linearly associated with faster learning to avoid risky decisions. Furthermore, although the influence of stress on decision-making is well documented, it is unknown whether recent life stress might moderate the relationship between this internal affective feedback and decision-making. We report two studies using the Iowa Gambling Task with diverse community samples. Each study demonstrated a linear relationship between the level of autonomic arousal prior to risky decision-making and the rate of learning to avoid risk. Additionally, participants' recent life events conditionally moderated this association. Specifically, the relationship between risk-specific arousal and advantageous learning was strongest for participants who experienced relatively more positive and fewer negative life events in the previous four months. These findings suggest that autonomic arousal may generally inform decision-making, but less so when life circumstances are relatively poor.

Autonomic arousal may facilitate beneficial decision-making when the link between choices and outcomes is uncertain. 然而，尚不清楚更大的特定于风险的自主神经唤醒是否与更快的学习以避免风险决策呈线性相关。此外，尽管压力对决策的影响已得到充分证明，但最近的生活压力是否会调节这种内部情感反馈与决策之间的关系尚不清楚。我们报告了两项使用爱荷华赌博任务和不同社区样本的研究。每项研究都证明了在做出风险决策之前的自主神经唤醒水平与避免风险的学习率之间存在线性关系。此外，参与者最近的生活事件有条件地调节了这种关联。具体来说，对于在过去四个月中经历相对较多积极生活事件和较少消极生活事件的参与者而言，特定风险唤醒和有利学习之间的关系最强。这些发现表明，自主神经唤醒通常可以为决策提供信息，但在生活环境相对较差时则不然。