The term “Pavlovian” bias describes the phenomenon that learning to execute a response to obtain a reward or to inhibit a response to avoid punishment is much easier than learning the reverse. The present study investigated the interplay between this learning bias and individual levels of social anxiety. Since avoidance behavior is a hallmark feature of social anxiety and high levels of social anxiety have been associated with better learning from negative feedback, it is conceivable that the Pavlovian bias is altered in individuals with high social anxiety, with a strong tendency to avoid negative feedback, especially (but not only) in a nogo context. In addition, learning may be modulated by the individual propensity to learn from positive or negative feedback, which can be assessed as a trait-like feature. A sample of 84 healthy university students completed an orthogonalized go/nogo task that decoupled action type (go/nogo) and outcome valence (win/avoid) and a probabilistic selection task based upon which the individual propensity to learn from positive and negative feedback was determined. Self-reported social anxiety and learning propensity were used as predictors in linear mixed-effect model analysis of performance accuracy in the go/nogo task. Results revealed that high socially anxious subjects with a propensity to learn better from negative feedback showed particularly pronounced learning for nogo to avoid while lacking significant learning for nogo to win as well as go to avoid. This result pattern suggests that high levels of social anxiety in concert with negative learning propensity hamper the overcoming of Pavlovian bias in a win context while facilitating response inhibition in an avoidance context. The present data confirm the robust Pavlovian bias in feedback-based learning and add to a growing body of evidence for modulation of feedback learning by individual factors, such as personality traits. Specifically, results show that social anxiety is associated with altered Pavlovian bias, and might suggest that this effect could be driven by altered basal ganglia function primarily affecting the nogo pathway.

术语“巴甫洛夫”偏见描述了这样一种现象，即学习执行响应以获得奖励或抑制响应以避免惩罚比学习相反的要容易得多。本研究调查了这种学习偏见与个人社交焦虑水平之间的相互作用。由于回避行为是社交焦虑的一个标志性特征，并且高水平的社交焦虑与更好地从负面反馈中学习有关，因此可以想象，巴甫洛夫偏见在社交焦虑高的个体中发生了改变，具有强烈的避免负面反馈的倾向，尤其是（但不仅是）在 nogo 上下文中。此外，学习可能会受到个体从正面或负面反馈中学习的倾向的调节，这可以被评估为类似特质的特征。一个由 84 名健康大学生组成的样本完成了一项正交化的 go/nogo 任务，该任务将动作类型 (go/nogo) 和结果效价 (win/avoid) 解耦，并完成了一项概率选择任务，基于该任务的个人从正面和负面反馈中学习的倾向是决定。自我报告的社交焦虑和学习倾向被用作 go/nogo 任务中性能准确性的线性混合效应模型分析的预测因子。结果表明，倾向于从负面反馈中更好地学习的高度社交焦虑的受试者表现出特别显着的 nogo to Avoid 学习，而对于 nogo 获胜和避免的学习缺乏显着的学习。这一结果模式表明，与消极学习倾向相一致的高水平社交焦虑阻碍了在获胜环境中克服巴甫洛夫偏见，同时在回避环境中促进反应抑制。目前的数据证实了基于反馈的学习中强大的巴甫洛夫偏见，并增加了越来越多的证据表明个人因素（如人格特征）调节反馈学习。具体来说，结果表明社交焦虑与改变的巴甫洛夫偏见有关，并且可能表明这种影响可能是由主要影响 nogo 通路的基底神经节功能改变驱动的。目前的数据证实了基于反馈的学习中强大的巴甫洛夫偏见，并增加了越来越多的证据表明个人因素（如人格特征）调节反馈学习。具体来说，结果表明社交焦虑与改变的巴甫洛夫偏见有关，并且可能表明这种影响可能是由主要影响 nogo 通路的基底神经节功能改变驱动的。目前的数据证实了基于反馈的学习中强大的巴甫洛夫偏见，并增加了越来越多的证据表明个人因素（如人格特征）调节反馈学习。具体来说，结果表明社交焦虑与改变的巴甫洛夫偏见有关，并且可能表明这种影响可能是由主要影响 nogo 通路的基底神经节功能改变驱动的。