Assessing Evolutionary Explanations of Human Behaviour Using Visual Cognition.

The ‘hunter gatherer hypothesis’ posits that prehistoric environments and social roles have resulted in the evolution of specific, yet distinct cognitive abilities in men and women (Silverman & Eals, 1992). The majority of previous research however has focused solely on sex differences in spatial cognition. In a series of eight experiments, the present thesis examined the hunter gatherer hypothesis using visual cognition paradigms. Chapters 2 and 3 failed to support the hunter gatherer hypothesis when assessed by attentional and perceptual paradigms respectively. For instance, men are not better at tracking moving object relative to women, as would be predicted by the theory. Chapter 4 does however find support for the hunter gatherer notion; a task and effect that is thought to be related to foraging (i.e., social inhibition of return) is larger when undertaken by pairs of women, as opposed to pairs of men or mixed-sex pairings. Overall, the results from the present work show limited support for the hunter gatherer hypothesis.