Figure 1.

Experimental design. Top: Study 1. Trial structure of the dual- and single-alternative experiment. The block part consisted of the context-setting presentation of the risky alternative and was identical for both experiments. By contrast, the trial part differed between experiments in that both the risky and the safe alternative were shown in the trials of the dual-alternative experiment, whereas only the safe alternative was shown in the trials of the single-alternative experiment. In the control part, participants indicated which risky alternative was active during the preceding block by pressing the corresponding number key on the keyboard. Bottom: Study 2. Trial structure was as in Study 1, but each block was preceded by a secondary working memory part, represented by a context-independent sequence of numbers and letters, that had to be maintained in working memory and recalled from longer-term memory at the end of the block.