Cognitive scientists have attributed the ubiquity of religious narratives partly to the favored recall of minimally counterintuitive (MCI) concepts within those narratives. Yet, this memory bias is inconsistent, sometimes absent, and without a functional rationale. Here, we asked if MCI concepts are more fitness relevant than intuitive concepts, and if fitness relevance can explain the existence and variability of the observed memory bias. In three studies, participants rated the potential threat and potential opportunity (i.e., fitness relevance) afforded by agents with abilities that violated folk psychology, physics, or biology (i.e., MCI abilities). As in previous work, agents with MCI abilities were recalled better than those with intuitive abilities. Additionally, agents with MCI abilities were perceived as greater threats, and as providing greater opportunities, than agents with intuitive abilities, but this perceived fitness relevance only mediated the memory bias when MCI abilities were used to accomplish disproportionally consequential outcomes. Minimally counterintuitive abilities that violated folk psychology were rated more intuitive and more of an opportunity than violations of folk physics or biology, while folk physics violations were recalled best. Explanations for these effects and their relevance to the cognitive science of religion are discussed.

认知科学家将宗教叙事的普遍存在部分归因于对那些叙事中最小的反直觉（MCI）概念的青睐。但是，这种记忆偏见是不一致的，有时甚至是不存在的，并且没有功能上的依据。在这里，我们询问MCI概念是否比直觉概念更适合健身，以及健身相关性是否可以解释观察到的记忆偏差的存在和变异性。在三项研究中，参与者对具有违反民间心理，物理学或生物学能力（即MCI能力）的特工所提供的潜在威胁和潜在机会（即适应性相关性）进行了评估。与以前的工作一样，MCI的代理商与具有直觉能力的人相比，召回能力更好。另外，与具有直觉能力的特工相比，具有MCI能力的特工被认为是更大的威胁，并且提供了更多的机会，但是当使用MCI能力来实现不成比例的结果时，这种感知的适应性相关性仅介导了记忆偏见。与违反民俗物理或生物学的违背相比，违反民俗心理学的最低的违反直觉的能力被评为更直观和更多的机会，而对民俗物理的违背被认为是最好的。讨论了这些影响及其与宗教认知科学的关系的解释。