Directed exploration is reduced by an aversive interoceptive state induction in healthy individuals but not in those with affective disorders.

Summary: When we feel anxious, it can change how we make choices. Scientists wanted to know if a sudden feeling of physical anxiety affects people with anxiety or depression differently than healthy people. They asked 119 people to play a decision-making game on a computer. Half the time, the players breathed through a mask that made it slightly hard to breathe, which causes a sudden feeling of stress and anxiety in the body.

The researchers found that the healthy people stopped exploring new options when it was hard to breathe. But the people who already had anxiety or depression didn't change how they played the game at all. This shows that sudden physical stress changes how healthy brains make choices, but brains that are already used to chronic stress react very differently.