Fig 4. Results from experiments 1–4.

The figure shows responses to the possibility to collect the nth token after already having collected (n—1) tokens which constitutes the potential loss. L: low threat. M: medium threat. H: high threat. Action: Percentage of epochs in which the player chose to collect at least the nth token. One can see that on the first token, i. e. when there is no potential loss involved, players almost always approach. After collecting increasingly many tokens, approach choices are reduced, and they are also reduced by higher threat level, (i. e. probability of loss). Approach and return latencies: Because the players rarely approached after collecting 5 tokens, approach latency is only shown up to a potential loss of 4 tokens. As the data are unbalanced, mean approach latencies were estimated in a linear mixed effects model (see Model and Methods). Approach latencies are increased both by increasing potential loss (i. e. number of already collected tokens) and by increasing threat level (i. e. probability of loss). The reverse pattern is seen for return latencies.