Positive Cognitive Bias Research Articles

Naive Realism and Its Relationship to Self-Awareness

The current research targets naive realism among university students, self-awareness among university students, and the relationship between naive realism and self-awareness among university students. The researcher suggests the following studies: Like the current research on other samples such as (employees in senior positions, professors, returnees, and displaced persons), and addressing other demographic variables such as (age, education, culture, and social status). It addresses the relationship of naive realism with a number of psychological variables such as (positive work, joint rumination, confirmation bias, cognitive biases, and attentional bias). It addresses the relationship of self-awareness and its relationship with a number of psychological variables such as (reflective thinking, emotional creativity, psychological adjustment, cognitive styles, and parental treatment styles).

A study on the influence of a single bout of moderate-intensity exercise on processing bias towards emotional information of individuals with high psychosocial stress levels

To explore the impact of a single bout of moderate-intensity exercise on cognitive bias of individuals with high psychosocial stress levels. 42 college students with high stress levels were recruited and divided into a exercise group (N = 21) and a no-exercise group (N = 21). The psychological and behavioral characteristics were studied using word-face stroop task, memory bias task, and interpretion bias task. College students with high psychosocial stress levels have attention bias, memory bias, and Interpretion bias towards negative emotional information, and a single bout of moderate-intensity exercise can increase attention bias towards neutral and positive emotional information, and memory bias towards neutral emotional information, interpretation bias towdrds positive emotional information. A single bout of moderate-intensity exercise can increase the positive cognitive bias towards emotional information, which is beneficial for regulating psychosocial stress levels.

The effects of life experiences and polygenic risk for depression on the development of positive and negative cognitive biases across adolescence: The CogBIAS hypothesis.

The Cognitive Bias (CogBIAS) hypothesis proposes that cognitive biases develop as a function of environmental influences (which determine the valence of biases) and the genetic susceptibility to those influences (which determines the potency of biases). The current study employed a longitudinal, polygenic-by-environment approach to examine the CogBIAS hypothesis. To this end, measures of life experiences and polygenic scores for depression were used to assess the development of memory and interpretation biases in a three-wave sample of adolescents (12-16 years) (N = 337). Using mixed effects modeling, three patterns were revealed. First, positive life experiences (PLEs) were found to diminish negative and enhance positive forms of memory and social interpretation biases. Second, and against expectation, negative life experiences and depression polygenic scores were not associated with any cognitive outcomes, upon adjusting for psychopathology. Finally, and most importantly, the interaction between high polygenic risk and greater PLEs was associated with a stronger positive interpretation bias for social situations. These results provide the first line of polygenic evidence in support of the CogBIAS hypothesis, but also extend this hypothesis by highlighting positive genetic and nuanced environmental influences on the development of cognitive biases across adolescence.

Effects of metacognitive training (MCT) on social cognition for schizophrenia spectrum and related psychotic disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Individuals with schizophrenia spectrum and related psychotic disorders (SSD) experience significant impairments in social cognition that impede functioning. Social cognition is a multidimensional construct consisting of four domains: 1. theory of mind, 2. emotion processing, 3. attributional style and 4. social perception. Metacognitive training (MCT) is an intervention designed to target cognitive biases in psychosis containing two modules addressing social cognition. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of MCT on social cognition and two of its domains: theory of mind and emotion processing. Ten electronic databases were scoured from 2007 to 1 February 2022 for MCT studies reporting social cognition outcomes for people with SSD (1050 identified, 282 assessed). Effect sizes were calculated using Cohen's d in R. Nine studies were included in the meta-analysis (nMCT = 212, ncontrol = 194). MCT had a small but positive effect on global social cognition (d = 0.28 [95% CI 0.07-0.49]) and theory of mind (d = 0.27 [95% CI 0.01-0.52]). MCT showed no evidence of an effect on emotion processing (d = 0.03 [95% CI -0.26 to 0.32]). MCT has a small but significant effect on social cognition for people with SSD. Our results add to other recent meta-analyses showing significant effects of MCT on clinically relevant outcomes such as positive symptoms, cognitive biases and cognitive insight. We recommend that future studies on MCT report outcomes on all four domains of social cognition. PROSPERO (in the process of registration) available at https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/#recordDetails.

Knowledge of lateralized brain function can contribute to animal welfare.

The specialized functions of each hemisphere of the vertebrate brain are summarized together with the current evidence of lateralized behavior in farm and companion animals, as shown by the eye or ear used to attend and respond to stimuli. Forelimb preference is another manifestation of hemispheric lateralization, as shown by differences in behavior between left- and right-handed primates, left- and right-pawed dogs and cats, and left- and right-limb-preferring horses. Left-limb preference reflects right hemisphere use and is associated with negative cognitive bias. Positive cognitive bias is associated with right-limb and left-hemisphere preferences. The strength of lateralization is also associated with behavior. Animals with weak lateralization of the brain are unable to attend to more than one task at a time, and they are more easily stressed than animals with strong lateralization. This difference is also found in domesticated species with strong vs. weak limb preferences. Individuals with left-limb or ambilateral preference have a bias to express functions of the right hemisphere, heightened fear and aggression, and greater susceptibility to stress. Recognition of lateralized behavior can lead to improved welfare by detecting those animals most likely to suffer fear and distress and by indicating housing conditions and handling procedures that cause stress.

Can mental imagery boost the effect of the positive cognitive bias modification of interpretation (CBM-I) on interpretation bias and memory bias?

Background and objectivesCognitive bias modification of interpretation (CBM-I) has been widely used and yielded mixed results. This experiment explored the unique role of mental imagery in positive CBM-I. Methods60 participants (M = 23.13, SD = 1.04) were randomly assigned to a imagery-based positive CBM-I group (imagery group) and a conventional verbal-based positive CBM-I group (control group). The imagery group received additional practice in generating mental imagery and were instructed to fully focus on the imagery during the formal training. The dependent variables included interpretation bias (probe latencies and similarity ratings for recognition task), memory bias, and intrusive memory. Results(1) For the positive probe scenario, the reaction time of the two groups was shorter in the posterior five blocks than the anterior five blocks. However, the difference in latency between pre- and post- training for the imagery group was larger than that of the control group; (2) For the recognition task, the positive target statement score was significantly higher, while the negative one was significantly lower for the imagery group than that of the control group (3) The imagery group (vs. control); showed more beneficial effects on memory bias. LimitationsThe limitations consisted of the difference in time of the manipulation between the two groups, the richness of the imagery operationalization, generalizability, and the lack of pre-manipulation of interpretation bias assessments. ConclusionsThe imagery-based CBM-I led to more positive interpretation biases, less negative interpretations, and more positive memory biases, indicating that mental imagery can boost the effect of the positive CBM-I.

Loss of superiority illusion in bipolar depressive disorder: A combined functional and structural MRI study

Superiority illusion (SI) is a positive cognitive bias related to self, manifested as overestimated self-appraisal. Negative self-schema is a core feature of the cognitive model of depression, including bipolar depressive disorder (BDD). However, only little research has explored the impaired self-processing in BDD. The potential alteration of positive self-bias and the corresponding neural mechanism in BDD remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the underlying neural mechanism of self-processing in BDD combining task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging and high-resolution T1 structural imaging. Forty-three BDD and forty-eight healthy controls were recruited and underwent a self-related task, where participants were required to evaluate how they compared with their average peers on a serial of positive and negative traits. We defined the ratio of neural activation and gray matter volume (GMV) in a region as the functional–structural coupling index to detect the changes of brain image in BDD. Furthermore, we used moderation analysis to explore the relationship among functional–structural coupling, behavioral scores and depression symptoms. BDD exhibited decreased task activation, GMV, and functional–structural coupling in bilateral anterior insula (AI) and inferior parietal lobule (IPL). The associations between functional–structural coupling in the right AI, IPL and negative trait self-rating scores were moderated by depressive symptom severity. The study revealed disturbed self-related processing and provided new evidences to neuropsychological dysfunction in BDD.

Immediate and Sustained Outcomes and Moderators Associated With Metacognitive Training for Psychosis

A substantial increase in the number of trials examining metacognitive training (MCT) for psychosis necessitates an updated examination of the outcomes associated with MCT. To review the immediate and sustained associations of MCT with proximal (directly targeted) and distal (indirectly influenced) outcomes and assess treatment- and participant-related moderators to identify the potential factors associated with the expected heterogeneity of effect sizes. Eleven electronic databases were searched from 2007 to June 3, 2021 (alert until September 10, 2021). Reference lists of earlier meta-analyses and included reports were screened. Reports examined MCT and included participants with schizophrenia spectrum and related psychotic disorders (1045 reports identified; 281 assessed). There were no age, sex, gender, race and ethnicity, language, or study design restrictions. Two reviewers performed the selection of studies to be analyzed. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses reporting guideline was followed. Data were extracted by 3 reviewers and pooled using random effects models. Hedges g effect sizes were computed. The Mixed-Methods Appraisal tool was used to assess study quality. Proximal outcomes were global positive symptoms, delusions, hallucinations, and cognitive biases. Distal outcomes were self-esteem, negative symptoms, quality of life, well-being, and functioning. Immediate and sustained outcomes were examined. Meta-regressions, subgroup, and sensitivity analyses assessed moderators. This systematic review and meta-analysis included 43 studies (46 reports). Forty reports were synthesized in meta-analysis (N=1816 participants) and 6 reports were included in narrative review. In the studies examined, MCT was associated with positive symptoms (g = 0.50; 95% CI, 0.34-0.67), delusions (g = 0.69; 95% CI, 0.45-0.93), hallucinations (g = 0.26; 95% CI, 0.11-0.40), cognitive biases (g = 0.16; 95% CI, 0.03-0.29), self-esteem (g = 0.17; 95% CI, 0.03-0.31), negative symptoms (g = 0.23; 95% CI, 0.10-0.37), and functioning (g = 0.41; 95% CI, 0.12-0.69). These associations were maintained up to 1 year. The quality of life effect size was nonsignificant (g = 0.20; 95% CI, -0.07 to 0.47); only 1 study assessed well-being. Publication year was associated with moderated hallucinations (β = 0.04; 95% CI, 0.00-0.07). Overall, narrative review results corroborated meta-analytic findings. In this meta-analysis, MCT for psychosis was associated with benefits up to 1 year postintervention in several treatment contexts. These findings suggest that MCT may merit integration in treatment guidelines for schizophrenia.

Physiological and psychological responses to olfactory simulation by Taiwania (Taiwania cryptomerioides) essential oil and the influence of cognitive bias

Taiwania (Taiwania cryptomerioides) is a valuable raw material in the wood products industry in Taiwan. An empirical study of the physiological and psychological effects of smelling Taiwania contributes to an understanding of the properties of interior wood that could potentially promote the use of wood materials in a healthy living environment. Prior studies have indicated that pre-knowledge of odors can cause cognitive bias and different responses in subjects. Designed to disclose the therapeutic effects of Taiwania’s scent and its extension to environmental health promotions, this study aimed to (1) investigate its effects on human health responses by stimulating olfaction, and (2) explore the role of cognitive bias in exposure to the scent of Taiwania. The results showed Taiwania’s volatiles had a relaxation effect in reducing the heart rates of participants. Some negative mood states, such as confusion, fatigue, and depression were suppressed. Regarding sensory perceptions, participants reported Taiwania’s scent induced greater affective scores of stimulation, excitement, firmness, distinctiveness, activity, and denseness, but a lower feeling of pleasantness. There were significant effects of positive cognitive bias on reducing the anger-hostility feeling of participants, but no effects on physiological responses. Moreover, the positive information bias alleviated the unpleasantness toward the smell.

The Connection Between Depression and Eating Disorders: Case Reviews and Treatment Options

The past century has seen extensive research on the connection between mental illnesses and eating disorders. In this paper, we review the connection between depression and two common eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia. We highlight these disorders, summarize the statistical evidence of this association, and discuss the hereditary role in this association. We elaborate on practical primary and secondary treatment options such as electroconvulsive therapy and positive imagery cognitive bias modification by reviewing a few case studies.

Inducing positive involuntary mental imagery in everyday life: an experimental investigation

ABSTRACT Positive involuntary mental imagery occurs frequently in daily life but evidence as to its functions and importance is largely indirect. The current study investigated a method to induce positive involuntary imagery in daily life, which would allow direct testing of its impact. An unselected student sample (N = 80) completed a single session of a positive imagery cognitive bias modification (CBM) paradigm, which involved listening to and imagining brief positive imagery scripts. Participants then recorded any involuntary memories of the imagined training scenarios in a three-day diary before returning to the lab for a follow-up assessment. Participants were randomised to imagine the scenarios in either an emotionally involved or emotionally detached manner, providing a test of the role of emotion in the subsequent experience of involuntary memories. Participants reported experiencing involuntary memories of the training scenarios in their daily life, but the number recorded did not differ between the experimental conditions. Exploratory analyses suggested that more vivid imagery and recall testing were associated with a greater number of involuntary memories. The study highlights the potential of the imagery CBM paradigm to further our understanding of the functions and potential importance of positive involuntary mental imagery in daily life.

Positive imagery cognitive bias modification for symptoms of depression among university students in Pakistan: A pilot study

Depression is highly prevalent among university students in Pakistan, but treatment provision is inadequate. Computerized interventions may provide one means of overcoming treatment barriers. The present study piloted a computerized cognitive training paradigm involving repeated generation of positive mental imagery, imagery cognitive bias modification (imagery CBM), as a potential brief intervention for symptoms of depression among university students in Pakistan. Fifty-five participants scoring above a questionnaire cutoff indicating at least mild levels of depression were randomly assigned to either imagery CBM or a sham training control condition (peripheral vision task [PVT]). Participants were instructed to complete one training session from home daily over the course of 1 week. Outcomes were measured at post-training and a subsequent 2-week follow-up and included measures of depression, anhedonia, and positive affect. Participants provided positive feedback about the imagery CBM intervention but encountered practical problems with the study schedule, resulting in high rates of attrition, particularly at follow-up. Further, internal consistency of outcome measures was often low, and the PVT did not appear to be an adequate control condition in this study. However, overall the results suggest that with appropriate adaptations to the study methods formal investigation of efficacy is warranted.

Insecurity about getting old: age-contingent self-worth, attentional bias, and well-being

Objectives: Older adulthood has often been recognized as a time of increased well-being and positive cognitive biases. However, older adults can also experience many social and identity challenges. We sought to investigate which older adults might be most vulnerable to these difficulties. We propose that to the extent an older adult has age-related contingent self-esteem they will be at risk for lower well-being and negative attentional biases.Methods: Across three studies, we measured older adults’ self-reported aging self-worth contingencies, as well as various measures of well-being including subjective stress. We then had participants complete a cued-dot probe task, where each trial either began with an aging threat or not.Results: In an initial pilot study, we found that older adults reporting specific cognitive decline contingencies held an attentional bias toward rejection, primarily when cued with the word senile. In Study 1, we found general aging contingencies to be associated with lower well-being and a rejection bias when cued with old. In Study 2, we found that a stronger rejection bias, particularly when cued with old, was associated with greater stress.Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that older adults who are insecure about aging may have lower well-being and negatively biased social cognitive patterns. Negatively biased attentional patterns may play a key role in maintaining feelings of insecurity. Importantly, our research sheds light on those older adults who may not experience a positivity effect.

Positive and negative contexts predict duration of pig vocalisations

Emotions are mental states occurring in response to external and internal stimuli and thus form an integral part of an animal’s behaviour. Emotions can be mapped in two dimensions based on their arousal and valence. Whilst good indicators of arousal exist, clear indicators of emotional valence, particularly positive valence, are still rare. However, positively valenced emotions may play a crucial role in social interactions in many species and thus, an understanding of how emotional valence is expressed is needed. Vocalisations are a potential indicator of emotional valence as they can reflect the internal state of the caller. We experimentally manipulated valence, using positive and negative cognitive bias trials, to quantify changes in pig vocalisations. We found that grunts were shorter in positive trials than in negative trials. Interestingly, we did not find differences in the other measured acoustic parameters between the positive and negative contexts as reported in previous studies. These differences in results suggest that acoustic parameters may differ in their sensitivity as indicators of emotial valence. However, it is important to understand how similar contexts are, in terms of their valence, to be able to fully understand how and when acoustic parameters reflect emotional states.

Evidence for Right-Sided Horses Being More Optimistic than Left-Sided Horses.

Simple SummaryBehaviour that indicates stress or poor welfare in horses can be very subtle and, especially for the lay person, difficult to assess. Furthermore, the absence of such behaviour does not necessarily indicate a healthy mental state. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether a preference for the left or right forelimb in different tasks (motor laterality) or for left or right sensory organs (sensory laterality) indicates a positive mental state (positive cognitive bias—optimism) or negative mental state (negative cognitive bias—pessimism). This study demonstrates that horses that use the right forelimb more often when starting to move off from a standing position (initial forelimb use) are more likely to expect a neutral stimulus to be positive and to be in an optimistic mental state than horses that use the left forelimb. This knowledge about the horses’ mental state can help us to improve their welfare by minimizing negative events. Furthermore, evaluation of the mental state of animals by determining motor laterality is quicker and easier than conventional tests for cognitive bias that include a long period of training.An individual’s positive or negative perspective when judging an ambiguous stimulus (cognitive bias) can be helpful when assessing animal welfare. Emotionality, as expressed in approach or withdrawal behaviour, is linked to brain asymmetry. The predisposition to process information in the left or right brain hemisphere is displayed in motor laterality. The quality of the information being processed is indicated by the sensory laterality. Consequently, it would be quicker and more repeatable to use motor or sensory laterality to evaluate cognitive bias than to perform the conventional judgment bias test. Therefore, the relationship between cognitive bias and motor or sensory laterality was tested. The horses (n = 17) were trained in a discrimination task involving a box that was placed in either a “positive” or “negative” location. To test for cognitive bias, the box was then placed in the middle, between the trained positive and negative location, in an ambiguous location, and the latency to approach the box was evaluated. Results indicated that horses that were more likely to use the right forelimb when moving off from a standing position were more likely to approach the ambiguous box with a shorter latency (generalized linear mixed model, p < 0.01), and therefore displayed a positive cognitive bias (optimistic).

The Biology and Evolution of the Three Psychological Tendencies to Anthropomorphize Biology and Evolution.

At the core of anthropomorphism lies a false positive cognitive bias to over-attribute the pattern of the human body and/or mind. Anthropomorphism is independently discussed in various disciplines, is presumed to have deep biological roots, but its cognitive bases are rarely explored in an integrative way. Conversely, I present an inclusive, multifaceted interdisciplinary approach to refine the psychological bases of mental anthropomorphism. I have integrated 13 conceptual dissections of folk finalistic reasoning into four psychological inference systems (physical, design, basic-goal, and belief stances); the latter three are truly teleological and thus prone to anthropomorphisms. I then have integrated the genetic, neural, cognitive, psychiatric, developmental, comparative and evolutionary/adaptive empirical evidence that converges to support the nature of the distinct stances. The over-reactive calibration of the three teleological systems prone to anthropomorphisms is framed as an evolved design feature to avoid harmful ancestral contexts. Nowadays, these stances easily engage with scientific reasoning about bio-evolutionary matters with both negative and positive consequences. Design, basic-goal, and belief stances benefit biology by providing cognitive foundations, expressing a high-powered explanatory system, promoting functional generalization, fostering new research questions and discoveries, enabling metaphorical/analogical thinking and explaining didactically with brevity. Hence, it is neither feasible nor advantageous to completely eliminate teleology from biology. Instead, we should engage with the eight classes of problems in bio-philosophy and bio-education that relate to the three stances: types of anthropomorphism, variety of misunderstandings, misleading appeal, legitimacy controversy, gateway to mysticism, total prohibition and its backfire effect. Recognizing the distinction among design, basic-goal, and belief stances helps to elucidate much of the logic underlying these issues, so that it enables a much more detailed taxonomy of anthropomorphisms, and organizes the various misunderstandings about evolution by natural selection. It also offers a solid psychological grounding for anchoring definitions and terminology. This tripartite framework also shed some light on how to better deal with the over-reactive stances in bio-education, by organizing previous pedagogical strategies and by suggesting new possibilities to be tested. Therefore, this framework constitutes a promising approach to advance the debate regarding the psychological underpinnings of anthropomorphisms and to further support regulating and clarifying teleology and anthropomorphism in biology.

An Investigation of Module-Specific Effects of Metacognitive Training for Psychosis

Abstract. Metacognitive training for psychosis (MCT) is a group training program that targets cognitive biases, which play a role in the pathogenesis of delusions. It remains unclear to what extent individual MCT modules lead to within- or between-session changes in positive symptoms, sadness, cognitive biases, or theory of mind (ToM) distortions. A one-armed open-label intervention study was conducted with 176 psychiatric inpatients with psychotic symptoms. Patients were asked to fill out a questionnaire on cognitive biases, symptoms, and ToM distortions before and after each session. Multilevel (ML) modeling was used to assess associations between participation in a respective module and subsequent changes in self-reported symptoms. ML analyses indicated an overall improvement in all outcomes as well as within-session decreases in positive symptoms for a module addressing ToM distortions with a small effect. Two MCT modules addressing cognitive biases (jumping to conclusions, a bias against disconfirmatory evidence) were associated with reductions in the module-specific bias with a small and small to medium effect, respectively. The study provides initial evidence regarding module-specific associations with positive symptoms, cognitive biases, and ToM distortions in MCT.

Effects of appraisal training on responses to a distressing autobiographical event

Dysfunctional appraisals are a key factor suggested to be involved in the development and maintenance of PTSD. Research has shown that experimental induction of a positive or negative appraisal style following a laboratory stressor affects analogue posttraumatic stress symptoms. This supports a causal role of appraisal in the development of traumatic stress symptoms and the therapeutic promise of modifying appraisals to reduce PTSD symptoms. The present study aimed to extend previous findings by investigating the effects of experimentally induced appraisals on reactions to a naturally occurring analogue trauma and by examining effects on both explicit and implicit appraisals. Participants who had experienced a distressing life event were asked to imagine themselves in the most distressing moment of that event and then received either a positive or negative Cognitive Bias Modification training targeting appraisals (CBM-App). The CBM-App training induced training-congruent appraisals, but group differences in changes in appraisal over training were only seen for explicit and not implicit appraisals. However, participants trained positively reported less intrusion distress over the subsequent week than those trained negatively, and lower levels of overall posttraumatic stress symptoms. These data support the causal relationship between appraisals and trauma distress, and further illuminate the mechanisms linking the two.

Investigating d-cycloserine as a potential pharmacological enhancer of an emotional bias learning procedure.

The partial N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor agonist d-cycloserine may enhance psychological therapies. However, its exact mechanism of action is still being investigated. Cognitive bias modification techniques allow isolation of cognitive processes and thus investigation of how they may be affected by d-cycloserine. We used a cognitive bias modification paradigm targeting appraisals of a stressful event, Cognitive Bias Modification-Appraisal, to investigate whether d-cycloserine enhanced the modification of appraisal, and whether it caused greater reduction in indices of psychopathology. Participants received either 250 mg of d-cycloserine ( n=19) or placebo ( n=19). As a stressor task, participants recalled a negative life event, followed by positive Cognitive Bias Modification-Appraisal training. Before and after Cognitive Bias Modification-Appraisal, appraisals and indices of psychopathology related to the stressor were assessed. Cognitive Bias Modification-Appraisal successfully modified appraisals, but d-cycloserine did not affect appraisals post-training. There were no post-training group differences in frequency of intrusions. Interestingly, d-cycloserine led to a greater reduction in distress and impact on state mood from recalling the event, and lower distress post-training was associated with fewer intrusions. Therefore, d-cycloserine may affect emotional reactivity to recalling a negative event when combined with induction of a positive appraisal style, but via a mechanism other than enhanced learning of the appraisal style.

Manual bias, behavior, and cognition in common marmosets and other primates.

This chapter examines the importance of studying hand preference together with different expressions of behavior. Cognitive differences between left- and right-handed primates are discussed. As shown in several species of primate, eye preference, but not hand preference, is biased at the level of the population and reflects hemispheric asymmetry of processing. Hand preference, determined from simple grasping of pieces of food and taking them to the mouth, is consistent for individuals but it is not population biased. It is a measure of an individual's preference to use a particular hemisphere, and hence which cognitive processes are characteristic of the individual. Compared to left-handed subjects, right-handed subjects are more active in exploring novel objects, show more social facilitation of behavior, have a positive cognitive bias, and express lower levels of fear and stress responses. In marmosets, learning of food searching tasks is not associated with hand preference. Strength of hand preference, rather than its direction, is linked to the ability to perform two tasks at once, viz., detection of a predator while searching for food. Marmosets with strong hand preferences are able to perform these two tasks at once but those with weak or no hand preference are unable to do so.