Fig. 2: Task effects on choice behavior and heart rate.
a Higher money and shock levels led to more approach vs avoid choices, respectively. b We observed a significant average heart rate deceleration during the anticipation screen relative to the 1 s pre-trial baseline indicative of a freezing-like bradycardia state, which was numerically but not significantly more pronounced in avoid (compared to approach) trials (see main text for statistics). Trial-by-trial bradycardia (Δhr) was quantified as the average baseline-corrected heart rate across a 5–7 s time window relative to the anticipation screen onset, such that lower (relative to higher) Δhr values indicate stronger bradycardia. c Stronger trial-by-trial bradycardia was associated with faster response times (for illustration purposes, individual dots reflect RT and Δhr values aggregated separately for money and shock levels, and approach and avoid choices). Moreover, we observed faster response times for avoid compared to approach decisions. Error bars indicate ±1 SEM. Gray-white striped shaded area in (b) reflects partial overlap between anticipation and target movement screens across different trials (i.e., movement window onset was uniformly jittered between 6–7 s relative to the anticipation screen onset). BPM: beats per minute; Ap.: approach; Av.: avoid; asterisks (*) indicate ‘significant’ effects (i.e., HDI95% excludes 0) of money and shocks on choice (a) and heart rate and choice on response times (b).
