Fig. 2: Reward patch leaving thresholds across reward environments. | Nature Communications

Fig. 2: Reward patch leaving thresholds across reward environments.

From: PET-measured human dopamine synthesis capacity and receptor availability predict trading rewards and time-costs during foraging

Fig. 2

The average threshold for leaving a reward patch is shown for the group (filled diamonds) and for each participant (open circle, n = 56) for each reward environment. The optimal thresholds as calculated from the marginal value theorem are indicated with the gray bars (5.88, 6.56, 7.74, 8.04 for long steep, long shallow, short steep, and short shallow reward environments, respectively). The group average thresholds are denoted with the colored diamonds. Two factor repeated measures ANOVA revealed independent effects of both decay rate and travel time (p < 0.0373 for decay rate and p < 5.24e−6 for travel time; n = 56 individual participants) but not the interaction (p = 0.438). Post-hoc paired t-tests revealed that the threshold for leaving a patch is significantly lower in the long-steep reward environment compared to the long-shallow (p = 2.23e−4), short-steep (p = 9.16e−7), and short-shallow (p = 3.72e−7) environments. The threshold for leaving a patch was lower in the long-shallow reward environment compared to the short-steep (p = 0.0147) and short-shallow (p = 2.76e−4) environments. Results from post-hoc paired t-tests are indicated on the figure as follows: *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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