ALT Two of the experimental conditions in the study. Participants navigated through virtual reality environments to find goal objects. In the reward context, they received points for collecting the objects. In the threat context, they were chased by a predator and received electric shock when captured. Collecting objects led to temporary immunity from the predator. The images show the virtual reality environment, the coins depicting points in the reward context, and a Slenderman-like predator in the threat context.

ALT Results for Detour trials, in which participants' paths were unexpectedly blocked by an obstacle, forcing a detour. Graph shows Detour path length to the goal objects on the y-axis and the experimental conditions on the x-axis. Path length is longer for the Threat vs. Reward condition. Take-home point is that threat impairs navigation efficiency on Detour trials, even after controlling for performance on Non-detour trials,