TY - JOUR
T1 - Anxious and obsessive-compulsive traits are independently associated with valuation of noninstrumental information.
AU - Bennett, Daniel
AU - Sutcliffe, Kiran
AU - Tan, Nicholas Poh Jie
AU - Smillie, Luke D.
AU - Bode, Stefan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Psychological Association
PY - 2020/10/29
Y1 - 2020/10/29
N2 - Aversion to uncertainty about the future has been proposed as a transdiagnostic trait underlying psychiatric diagnoses including obsessive–compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety. This association might explain the frequency of pathological information-seeking behaviors such as compulsive checking and reassurance-seeking in these disorders. Here we tested the behavioral predictions of this model using a noninstrumental information-seeking task that measured preferences for unusable information about future outcomes in different payout domains (gain, loss, and mixed gain/loss). We administered this task, along with a targeted battery of self-report questionnaires, to a general-population sample of 146 adult participants. Using computational cognitive modeling of choices to test competing theories of information valuation, we found evidence for a model in which preferences for costless and costly information about future outcomes were independent, and in which information preference was modulated by both outcome mean and outcome variance. Critically, we also found positive associations between a model parameter controlling preference for costly information and individual differences in latent traits of both anxiety and obsessive-compulsion. These associations were invariant across different payout domains, providing evidence that individuals high in obsessive–compulsive and anxious traits show a generalized increase in willingness-to-pay for unusable information about uncertain future outcomes, even though this behavior reduces their expected future reward.
AB - Aversion to uncertainty about the future has been proposed as a transdiagnostic trait underlying psychiatric diagnoses including obsessive–compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety. This association might explain the frequency of pathological information-seeking behaviors such as compulsive checking and reassurance-seeking in these disorders. Here we tested the behavioral predictions of this model using a noninstrumental information-seeking task that measured preferences for unusable information about future outcomes in different payout domains (gain, loss, and mixed gain/loss). We administered this task, along with a targeted battery of self-report questionnaires, to a general-population sample of 146 adult participants. Using computational cognitive modeling of choices to test competing theories of information valuation, we found evidence for a model in which preferences for costless and costly information about future outcomes were independent, and in which information preference was modulated by both outcome mean and outcome variance. Critically, we also found positive associations between a model parameter controlling preference for costly information and individual differences in latent traits of both anxiety and obsessive-compulsion. These associations were invariant across different payout domains, providing evidence that individuals high in obsessive–compulsive and anxious traits show a generalized increase in willingness-to-pay for unusable information about uncertain future outcomes, even though this behavior reduces their expected future reward.
KW - anxiety
KW - aversion to uncertainty
KW - computational modeling
KW - information seeking
KW - obsessive– compulsive disorder
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U2 - 10.1037/xge0000966
DO - 10.1037/xge0000966
M3 - Article
C2 - 33119357
AN - SCOPUS:85103581169
SN - 0096-3445
VL - 150
SP - 739
EP - 755
JO - Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
JF - Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
IS - 4
ER -