Hidden Talents

The predominant view is that chronic exposure to harsh conditions impairs cognition. My colleagues and I have challenged this consensus by proposing that harsh environments do not exclusively impair cognition; rather, people’s minds also become developmentally adapted for solving problems that are ecologically relevant in such environments. The aim of the research project ‘Hidden Talents’ is to test this hypothesis. We conduct studies in the Netherlands with two populations: an adult community sample and a college student sample. All participants complete questionnaires on a computer, followed by one or more (computer) tasks. In the studies shown here, participants first completed a Danger Learning Task (Confirmatory study) and then a Wason Selection Task (Exploratory study). This volume contains a description of the research program 'Hidden Talents', materials and information of two example studies, and a video depicting the data collection protocol. Currently (June 28, 2019) the data collection of these example studies is still ongoing.