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General discussion1999Primates, including humans, often rely on visually conspicuous traits to judge the quality of a potential mate (Petersen & Higham, 2020; Rhodes, 2006). Because choosing a good-quality mate has a significant bearing on an individual’s biological fitness, it has been suggested that such traits have a strong influence on the cognitive processes of humans (Maner & Ackerman, 2015) and other animals (Bateson & Healy, 2005). Consequently, Maner & Ackerman (2015) proposed the term sexually selective cognition for cognitive attunements and biases related to mate choice. However, to date, sexually selective cognition has almost exclusively been studied in humans, whereas systematic studies in non-human primates are rare. This is unfortunate because a more comparative approach would allow for a better understanding of the phylogenetic history of sexually selective cognition. Moreover, this understanding can have practical implications for the management of primate populations in zoos.This thesis addresses this fundamental research gap by investigating the interplay between cognition and mate choice in humans and Bornean orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus) while simultaneously considering practical implementations within zoo breeding programmes. More specifically, I investigated whether humans and Bornean orang-utans show similar cognitive biases for materelevant information when presented with similar tasks, with an emphasis on attentional biases. I begin by summarizing the main findings of each chapter. The primary objective of the chapter summary is to offer a succinct overview of the main discoveries in each chapter, without integrating the results across chapters or with the existing body of literature. Following this, the subsequent sections will integrate the findings from various chapters and compare them to the existing literature, encompassing theoretical implications, methodological considerations, and practical implications. Finally, the chapter will conclude with a comprehensive summary.Summary of main findingsIn Chapter 2, I reviewed the literature on sexually selective cognition in humans and non-human primates. While a plethora of methods have been employed to investigate the interplay between attractiveness and cognition in humans, encompassing attentional processes, memory, and motivational processing, relatively few studies have investigated this phenomenon in non-human Tom Roth.indd 199 08-01-2024 10:42