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LIT-1483: The influence of anxiety on exploration: A review of computational modeling studies

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StatusActive — read in full 2026-10-24 (NOTE-1127) from the CC BY PsyArXiv preprint, not the closed version of record, whose abstract differs; worth reading as the map of how anxiety relates to exploration once both are split into kinds. In reward bandits directed exploration tends to rise with trait or cognitive anxiety and fall with state or somatic anxiety, random exploration shows no link, and in foraging, and in one task with a predator to check for, anxiety goes with less exploration. A narrative review of mostly sub-clinical, unreplicated studies with inconsistent tasks and measures.
Version3
Tagspsychopathology-and-treatment, learning-and-conditioning, emotion-and-affect
Cited as “paper” byNOTE-1127 — Chou, Wilson & Smith — The influence of anxiety on exploration
Cited as “source” byTHEORY-1180 — In foraging tasks, higher stress or anxiety goes consistently with less exploration, and in one task with a predator to check for, people higher in somatic anxiety checked less and did worse, a reduction associated with greater aversion to detecting the predator, THEORY-1186 — Across computational studies of exploration in reward-based bandit tasks, mostly in sub-clinical samples and not yet replicated, directed exploration tends to rise with trait or cognitive anxiety and to fall with state or somatic anxiety, THEORY-907 — As Chou, Wilson and Smith review them, in about six foraging studies, mostly sub-clinical, higher stress or anxiety went with less exploration, and in one task with a predator to check for (Trier et al. 2023), people higher in trait somatic anxiety checked less and did worse, a reduction the study's further analyses associated with greater aversion to detecting the predator, THEORY-917 — Chou, Wilson and Smith read about eight computational studies of exploration in reward-based bandit tasks, mostly in sub-clinical samples, with mixed results and none replicated, as suggesting that directed exploration rises with trait or cognitive anxiety and falls with state or somatic anxiety; none they review links random exploration to anxiety

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Chou, K.-P., Wilson, R. C. & Smith, R. (2024). The influence of anxiety on exploration: A review of computational modeling studies. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 167: 105940. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105940. Preprint: PsyArXiv, doi:10.31234/osf.io/wtfr6 (2024).

Key takeaways

From the reading, NOTE-1127. Page numbers are the preprint’s.

  • Directed exploration, by facet. In reward bandits, “many results could be seen to suggest that trait/cognitive anxiety measures promote exploration, while state/somatic anxiety deters exploration. However, findings are mixed” (p. 18).
  • Information sought when useless. In the Horizon Task, “reduced directed exploration with high anxiety was partially explained by greater information-seeking when it was not useful” (p. 16).
  • Random exploration. “Unlike directed exploration, no studies to date have specifically linked random exploration to anxiety” (p. 19).
  • Foraging. Stress and anxiety consistently go with less exploration; with a predator to check for, people higher in somatic anxiety checked less, associated “with a greater aversion to detecting the predator” (p. 22).
  • Limits the authors state. Inconsistent tasks and measures, no replications reported, and “the majority of studies to date have used sub-clinical samples” (p. 31).

Why this is here

The exchange cited it at turn U15, unnamed, as a 2024 computational review finding anxiety’s relation to exploration heterogeneous. The abstract confirms it, with two refinements: the increase is in directed exploration only, and foraging tasks show consistently less exploration.

Corrected 2026-10-24, from the reading. The description is accurate, with the authors’ “may”. The record should add that the review is narrative, not systematic, that its tasks are almost all reward tasks with nothing aversive at stake, and that the preprint of 24 June 2024 is the first appearance. For CLAIM-446 it narrows the claim’s grant of defensive authority over “evidence acquisition” to the somatic and state facets of anxiety and to foraging, and its predator-checking study is the nearest evidence the record holds for evidence avoided because finding it is aversive. Filed from it: THEORY-917 and THEORY-907.

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