Fig. 3. A graphical model showing the hypothesized structure of the trade-off between the value of information and its cost for red-eyed treefrog eggs. Information has value (V) to the extent that it reduces potentially fatal errors about when to hatch and, for temporal properties, accrues as a diminishing function of cycles of the pattern (solid line in A). The cost of information accrues as risk of predation (R) over time (solid line in B). Elapsed time is a product of number of cycles and cycle length, thus information is more costly (A) or accrues more slowly (B) with long vs short cycles (subscripts). If embryos maximize net benefit (value minus cost) they should sample more time but fewer cycles if those cycles are long rather than short.