Page 33 - Demo

Sexually selective cognition in primates312IntroductionChoosing a mate is one of the most critical decisions that animals make during their life: selecting a suitable mate can result in a good representation of the individual’s genes in the next generation, whereas selecting an unsuitable mate might result in the loss of your genes from the population. Consequently, the selective pressures associated with searching for a mate profoundly influence the evolution of cognition (Maner & Ackerman, 2015; Miller & Todd, 1998). We can clearly observe this effect in humans: when asking people to describe how they feel about their loved one, or how they felt when they first met, they often refer to specific cognitive processes such as attention, memory, and implicit associations. “I could not get my eyes off of her” or “I cannot get him out of my head”: such statements are typical when referring to a preferred romantic partner. Evidence from psychological studies shows that these statements are not misguided when they imply that attraction has a significant cognitive component.More specifically, cognitive processes may be sensitive to traits that are relevant for mate choice. Due to the strong incentive to choose a suitable mate, mate choice is guided by multiple signals and cues that might reflect the quality of a potential mate (Andersson, 1994; Candolin, 2003). Accordingly, many species have evolved preferences for these traits (Darwin, 1871; Manson, 2011). More specifically, primate males often bear variant and invariant traits that are preferred by females or associated with higher reproductive output (Lüpold et al., 2019). These traits can be indicators of either direct benefits that the male can offer, such as protection, or indirect benefits, such as high genetic quality (Paul, 2002). An example that already captivated Charles Darwin is the male mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx). Darwin contended that “[n]o other member of the whole class of mammals is coloured in so extraordinary a manner as the adult male mandrill” (Darwin, 1871, p. 292), and suggested that the bright coloration of the males is probably attractive to females, something that we now know is indeed the case (Setchell, 2005).Although ultimate questions regarding mate choice in non-human primates (hereafter, primates) have been studied extensively, the interaction between primate cognition and mate choice remains unclear. In humans, by contrast, a plethora of studies has shown that information that is relevant for mate choice affects human social cognition; several cognitive processes, such as attention and memory, are attuned to physical attractiveness (Maner & Ackerman, 2015). Tom Roth.indd 31 08-01-2024 10:41