Given the choice, people are often drawn toward more options over fewer options in decision-making scenarios. However, mounting evidence indicates that sometimes, choosing from large arrays can result in suboptimal outcomes. The tendency to be overwhelmed, regretful, or less satisfied with a choice when there are many options to choose from is called choice overload. This effect has been well-studied in adult humans, but comparative research, such as with nonhuman primates, is lacking, despite the fact that such choice behavior may be related to general aspects of cognition that underlie behaviors such as foraging in the wild. In addition, research with monkeys can shed light on whether choice overload is a human-unique phenomenon that may be driven by sociocultural factors, or whether this effect may be shared more broadly among mammals. This experiment tested whether monkeys were susceptible to choice overload effects by using a computerized paradigm in which monkey subjects could choose from three, six, or nine task options. No evidence of choice overload was found for monkeys, although this may have been due to methodological limitations that are described.

有了选择，人们往往会在决策场景中倾向于更多的选择而不是更少的选择。然而，越来越多的证据表明，有时从大型阵列中进行选择可能会导致次优结果。当有很多选项可供选择时，对选择感到不知所措、后悔或不太满意的倾向被称为选择超载。这种影响已经在成年人中得到了充分研究，但缺乏比较研究，例如与非人类灵长类动物的比较研究，尽管这种选择行为可能与认知的一般方面有关，而这些方面是诸如在野外觅食等行为的基础。此外，对猴子的研究可以阐明选择超载是否是一种人类独有的现象，可能由社会文化因素驱动，或者这种影响是否可能在哺乳动物中更广泛地共享。该实验通过使用计算机化范式测试猴子是否容易受到选择超载效应的影响，其中猴子受试者可以从三个、六个或九个任务选项中进行选择。没有发现猴子选择过载的证据，尽管这可能是由于所描述的方法学限制。