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Individual attractiveness preferences predict attention1035and voluntary attention in non-committed young adults. To test immediate attention, we employed a dot-probe task (MacLeod et al., 1986). In the dot-probe task, participants briefly view two pictures presented on the display, one of which is then replaced by a dot. Participants are asked to indicate the location of the dot (right vs. left) using the corresponding keyboard keys. To investigate voluntary attention, we used a preferential looking task, where participants can freely view two stimuli in each trial (Leder et al., 2016), while their eye movements were recorded with an eye tracker. We combined these two cognitive tasks with a speed-date paradigm in order to create a realistic mate-choice context. Speeddating has been shown to have strong ecological validity, as participation in a speed-dating experiment can translate into real-world romantic relationships (Finkel et al., 2007). Furthermore, we aimed to examine how the results of two different but well-established types of paradigms (i.e., speed dating and cognitive tasks) relate to each other. This is because these two pervasive paradigms may be capturing fundamentally different processes relevant to mate choice that are, nonetheless, relevant to understanding the role of perceived attractiveness. As such, we believe the integration of these paradigms has the potential to more holistically inform the complex phenomenon that is human mate choice.Our study aimed to contribute to the understanding of the interplay between cognition, attractiveness, and mate choice in two main ways. First, we linked idiosyncratic attractiveness preferences not only to voluntary, but also immediate attention. Second, we studied whether attractiveness-related attentional biases are indeed reflective of actual mate choice. Regarding our analyses, we first explored whether there were idiosyncratic differences in attractiveness ratings in our sample, as reflected in inter-rater reliability of attractiveness ratings. With regards to individual attractiveness preferences and the dot-probe task, we expected that participants would respond faster to the dot when it replaced a picture they themselves had previously rated as highly attractive; whereas they would respond slower to the dot when the distractor was a picture they had rated as highly attractive. With regards to date outcome and the dot-probe task, we expected people to respond faster to the dot when it replaced a picture of a person they later felt attracted to on a speed-date. However, we expected them to respond slower when the distractor was a picture of a person they later felt attracted to while on a speed-date. With regard to individual attractiveness preferences and preferential looking, we expected a positive association between individual attractiveness rating and looking time. Furthermore, regarding date Tom Roth.indd 103 08-01-2024 10:41