Stress-induced impairment in goal-directed instrumental behaviour is moderated by baseline working memory.
Acute stress has been found to impair goal-directed instrumental behaviour, a cognitively flexible behaviour that requires cognitive control. The current study aimed to investigate the role of individual differences in baseline and stress-induced changes in working memory (WM) on the shift to less goal-directed responding under stress. To this end, 112 healthy participants performed an instrumental learning task. In phase 1, participants learned instrumental actions that were associated with two different food rewards. In phase 2, one of these food rewards was devalued by eating until satiety. Before the extinction test in phase 3, participants were subjected to the Maastricht Acute Stress Test or a no-stress control procedure. Results showed that the effect of stress on instrumental behaviour is modulated by baseline, but not stress-induced changes in WM capacity. Specifically, only at low baseline WM capacity did stress induce a shift to less goal-directed behaviour. These findings highlight that our cognitive resources are limited and for those who already have limited resources at baseline taking into account motivational value is impaired under stress.
['Quaedflieg|C W E M|CWEM|', 'Stoffregen|H|H|', 'Sebalo|I|I|', 'Smeets|T|T|']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D005260:Female D006040:Goals D006801:Humans D007206:Individuality D007858:Learning D008297:Male D008570:Memory, Short-Term D011597:Psychomotor Performance D012201:Reward D013315:Stress, Psychological D055815:Young Adult
Working memory Stress Instrumental learning Goal-directed behaviour MAST