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Chapter 244of these methods have already been used to study other topics such as emotions and categorization abilities. Similar to the section on sexually selective cognition in humans, we separated this section into three subsections: attention, memory, and effort. AttentionRecent studies have employed the dot-probe paradigm to measure immediate attention in primates (MacLeod et al., 1986; see van Rooijen et al., 2017 for a review). In this paradigm, two stimuli appear on a touchscreen for a brief moment, one of which is subsequently replaced by a dot that needs to be clicked. If an individual’s attention was already attracted to the picture that was replaced by the dot, they would click the dot faster. However, if their attention was focused on the other image, they would first need to shift their attention before they could touch the dot, which would result in a slower reaction time. Using this method, researchers have investigated emotional cognition in bonobos (Kret et al., 2016; van Berlo et al., 2023), chimpanzees (Kret et al., 2018; Wilson & Tomonaga, 2018), orang-utans (Laméris et al., 2022), macaques (King et al., 2012; Lacreuse et al., 2013) and capuchin monkeys (Schino et al., 2020). Given that humans show a bias for attractive faces in the dot-probe paradigm (Roth et al., 2022, 2023), it could be worth exploring whether primates have similar biases in this paradigm. Importantly, it is possible to investigate both attentional engagement and disengagement using the dot-probe paradigm (Koster et al., 2004). Therefore, the dot-probe paradigm can potentially be used to develop a fine-grained view of attentional biases towards attractive conspecifics.Alternatively, one could investigate whether certain stimuli receive more attention using eye-tracking. As outlined earlier in this review, many studies on primate sexually selective cognition have used preferential looking paradigms. In many of these studies, researchers videotaped the responses of primates to stimuli and later scored their gaze direction and attention duration. However, such measures are relatively crude and require intensive analysis of the video materials. Recent developments in eye-tracking techniques allow the collection of precise and accurate data regarding primate attention (Hopper et al., 2021). Some of the studies mentioned previously have already employed eyetracking to investigate primate sexually selective cognition (Damon et al., 2019; Lonsdorf et al., 2019). Still, a more elaborate use of this technology could aid our understanding of primate sexually selective cognition. While many studies have Tom Roth.indd 44 08-01-2024 10:41