Acute anxiety and social inference: An experimental manipulation with 7.5% carbon dioxide inhalation

This study investigated the effects of state anxiety, induced via 7.5% CO2 inhalation, on learning social evaluation. Healthy volunteers (n = 48; 50% female) undertook two inhalations (medical air and 7.5% CO2, counterbalanced) whilst learning social rules (self-liked, self-disliked, other-liked, and other-disliked) in an instrumental social evaluation learning task.