When the cortisol peak is reached after a stressor people learn slower and make worse decisions in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). However, the effects of the early stress response have not received as much attention. Since physical exercise is an important neuroendocrine stressor, this study aimed to fill this gap using an acute physical stressor. We hypothesized that this stress stage would promote an alertness that may increase feedback-sensitivity and, therefore, reward-learning during IGT, leading to a greater overall decision-making. 90 participants were divided into two groups: 47 were exposed to an acute intense physical stressor (cycloergometer) and 43 to a distractor 5 min before IGT. The Prospect Valence-Learning (PVL) computational model was applied to the IGT to investigate decision-making components (feedback-sensitivity, loss aversion, learning and choice consistency). There were no differences in the overall IGT performance, but physically stressed participants showed greater loss aversion and higher learning than controls. In addition, this loss aversion was linearly related to the learning and the choice consistency. These results would support the potentially beneficial role that early stages of stress could play in decision-making and suggest the need of studying the components that underlie this cognitive skill, rather than addressing it as a single dimension.

在压力源之后达到皮质醇峰值时，人们在爱荷华州赌博任务（IGT）中学习会变慢，并做出较差的决定。但是，早期压力反应的影响尚未引起足够的重视。由于体育锻炼是重要的神经内分泌应激源，因此本研究旨在使用急性体育应激源来填补这一空白。我们假设这个压力阶段会提高机敏性，可能会增加反馈敏感性，因此在IGT期间会奖励学习，从而导致更大的总体决策。90名参与者分为两组：47名在IGT前5分钟暴露于急性强力生理压力（旋光测力计），43名暴露于牵张器。前瞻性价学习（PVL）计算模型已应用于IGT，以研究决策成分（反馈敏感性，损失厌恶，学习和选择的一致性）。IGT的整体表现没有差异，但是与对照组相比，承受压力的参与者表现出更大的厌恶情绪和更高的学习能力。此外，这种损失厌恶与学习和选择的一致性线性相关。这些结果将支持压力的早期阶段在决策中可能发挥的潜在有益作用，并表明有必要研究构成该认知技能基础的组成部分，而不是将其作为一个单一维度来解决。