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Chapter 232For example, humans selectively attend to attractive faces, memorize them differently than unattractive faces, and work harder to see attractive faces. These cognitive biases towards indicators of mate quality (e.g., facial attractiveness; Little et al., 2011) have been termed as sexually selective cognition (Maner & Ackerman, 2015). While many studies have explored this topic in humans, only a limited number of studies have examined it in primates with mixed results. Although an evolutionary approach has already been successful in gaining an understanding of the relationship between mate choice and cognition in humans, a full understanding of the evolution of sexually selective cognition requires a comparative approach. Typically, a comparative approach to cognition involves identifying differences in cognitive traits across multiple species, and then seeking to explain these differences by examining relevant factors, such as ecological and social variables (MacLean et al., 2012; Vonk & Shackelford, 2012). For instance, Amici et al. (2008) have used such an approach to show that measures of social complexity correlate positively with inhibitory control in primates. When considering sexually selective cognition, we can obtain better insight into how sexual selection shapes cognition by investigating whether factors such as mating system and ornamentation explain variance in cognitive biases towards potential mates.This fundamental knowledge is interesting in itself, but importantly, some of the methods to test sexually selective cognition in primates might have practical applications in conservation breeding programs. Currently, most programs do not incorporate mate preferences, but instead they strongly rely on pedigree information (Asa et al., 2011). However, recent studies have established that allowing free mate choice is associated with increased reproductive output (Martin-Wintle et al., 2019). Interestingly, many of the paradigms that can be employed to study sexually selective cognition from a fundamental perspective, can theoretically be used to identify individual mate preferences as well. Most importantly, these methods could be applied to test for mate preferences despite the fact that individuals are housed at distant locations. If this is indeed the case, breeding recommendations could be refined by not only pairing individuals with a genetically suitable conspecific, but in addition also taking into account their individual mate preferences. This could potentially increase well-being of captive primates and ultimately also reproductive success. Tom Roth.indd 32 08-01-2024 10:41