Fig. 2

Summary of behavioural results from the categorical approach. Thick-contour dots represent means, while error bars represent 95% confidence intervals for the normal distribution. Shaded points represent individual participant means. A: Mean proportion of hits across the task, as a function of participant strategy and gender. B: Mean proportion of hits over the first 20 trials across blocks of stable action-outcome contingencies (trial 1 = reversal trial). The fitted curve represents the best fit (and 95% confidence interval) for the hyperbolic function y = 1–1/(1 + x) previously used in Mennella et al. (2022) and confirms the results for the mean proportion of hits (A). C & D: Mean proportion of action repetitions following either approach or avoidance outcomes in the angry and happy versions of the reinforcement learning task, as a function of participant strategy (C) and gender (D). Symbols: p < 0.001 ***; p < 0.01 **, p < 0.05 *, p < 0.1 ~