Comparison of two reaction-time-based and one foraging-based behavioral approach-avoidance tasks in relation to interindividual differences and their reliability
Publication date
2023-12-16
Document type
Forschungsartikel
Author
Organisational unit
ISSN
Series or journal
Scientific Reports
Periodical volume
13
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
✅
Abstract
Approaching rewards and avoiding punishments is a fundamental aspect of behavior, yet individuals differ in the extent of these behavioral tendencies. One popular method to assess differences in approach-avoidance tendencies and even modify them, is using behavioral tasks in which spontaneous responses to differently valenced stimuli are assessed (e.g., the visual joystick and the manikin task). Understanding whether these reaction-time-based tasks map onto the same underlying constructs, how they predict interindividual differences in theoretically related constructs and how reliable they are, seems vital to make informed judgements about current findings and future studies. In this preregistered study, 168 participants (81 self-identified men, 87 women) completed emotional face versions of these tasks as well as an alternative, foraging-based paradigm, the approach-avoidance-conflict task, and answered self-report questionnaires regarding anxiety, aggression, depressive symptoms, behavioral inhibition and activation. Importantly, approach-avoidance outcome measures of the two reaction-time-based tasks were unrelated with each other, showed little relation to self-reported interindividual differences and had subpar internal consistencies. In contrast, the approach-avoidance-conflict task was related to behavioral inhibition and aggression, and had good internal consistencies. Our study highlights the need for more research into optimizing behavioral approach-avoidance measures when using task-based approach-avoidance measures to assess interindividual differences.
Description
Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
This study was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG, GZ VO 2209/2–1).
This study was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG, GZ VO 2209/2–1).
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cite as
Fricke, K., Alexander, N., Jacobsen, T. et al. Comparison of two reaction-time-based and one foraging-based behavioral approach-avoidance tasks in relation to interindividual differences and their reliability. Sci Rep 13, 22376 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-49864-x
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Open Access Funding
Springer Nature (DEAL)