Trait anxiety is associated with reduced coupling between physiological dynamics and adaptive learning

Despite the societal costs of anxiety disorders, their underlying mechanisms remain debated. Traditional accounts suggest that anxiety is characterized by exaggerated responses to safety signals, whereas newer theories propose that it reflects deficits in uncertainty reduction. Whether these deficits are also evident at the psychophysiological level remains unexplored. Using data from 12 Pavlovian fear-conditioning studies (N = 1,101), we examined the relationship between skin conductance response (SCR) patterns and both threat-learning and uncertainty-reduction strategies and whether anxiety-related traits influenced this coupling. SCR patterns corresponded more closely with uncertainty-reduction than threat-learning strategies, supporting the view that SCRs index decreases in uncertainty. Importantly, trait anxiety was associated with weaker coupling between SCRs and both strategies. Further analyses revealed an asymmetric pattern: while individuals low in anxiety demonstrated greater coupling flexibility, individuals high in anxiety showed consistently reduced correspondence, suggesting that anxiety may involve constrained coordination between bodily dynamics and adaptive learning to changing environments.