A computational modeling approach to brief slow-paced breathing and mental health moderators of decision-making under uncertainty in college students
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9405776 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kaileigh A Byrne (0000-0002-3935-3108, Clemson University, corresponding author), June J Pilcher (0000-0003-1070-6608, Clemson University), Yizhou Liu (0000-0001-7456-4069, Clemson University), Maria Spinelli (0000-0003-2685-5472, Clemson University), Michael R Spinelli, Margaret L Rosinski (Clemson University), Madelyn G Brancato (Clemson University), Delaini Daughenbaugh (Clemson University), Anthony Alvarado Batres (Clemson University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 258 |
| Pages | 105222-105222 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-03 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Acta Psychologica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0001-6918 • E-ISSN: 1873-6297 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105222 |
| PMID | 40614430 |
| OpenAlex | W4411986031 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 64 |
Decision-making is a critical cognitive function that can be significantly impacted by stress and other mental health factors. While interventions such as slow-paced breathing (SPB) have been shown to reduce stress and enhance executive functioning, their effects on decision-making under uncertainty remain poorly understood. This study examined the effect of a brief SPB intervention on Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) performance and assessed whether individual differences in mental health symptoms differentially impacted such effects. College students (n = 216) were randomized into an SPB intervention or mind-wandering control condition. Participants completed mental health and state surveys, the assigned manipulation, and the IGT. Expectancy valence and prospect valence learning (PVL) computational models were fit to the data to assess specific decision-making strategies. Mixed ANOVA results showed that the SPB intervention reduced self-reported stress and arousal (ps < 0.05). Critically, regression results demonstrated a significant interaction between condition and perceived stress for IGT performance (β = 0.858, p = 0.034) and the PVL model recency (β = -0.507, p = 0.037) and consistency (β = 0.638, p = 0.010) parameters. This key finding revealed that higher perceived stress was associated with worse decision-making in the control but better decision-making in the SPB intervention. The control's IGT data were best fit by higher recency and lower choice consistency parameter values than the SPB condition. Higher stress in the control condition was linked to more random, short-sighted choices, while SPB mitigated these suboptimal strategies. This study is among the first to demonstrate that perceived stress impairs decision-making in college students, but a brief slow-paced breathing intervention can mitigate these negative effects
Breathing · Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Mental health · Mental model · Psychiatry · Applied Psychology · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control · Mental Health Research Topics · Psychology
Reinforcement Learning
Decision making under stress
Model-Based Influences on Humans' Choices and Striatal Prediction Errors
New Measures of Well-Being
Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex
Prospect Theory
A Brief Measure for Assessing Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1
The CES-D Scale
Looking Up
Validation and Standardization of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener (GAD-7) in the General Population
A Global Measure of Perceived Stress
| Highly cited | No |
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