“…Indeed, social psychology research has shown that even small variations in the social context, such as the location of the investigator relative to the participant, whether they were visible/invisible to the participant, if and how they interacted with the subject during the test session, can have profound effects on performance (Huguet et al, 1999). This phenomenon, known as social facilitation/impairment caused by the mere presence of others, without any overt interaction with the subject, has been studied by social psychologists for over a century, and has been reported using a variety of tasks in humans and non-human animals (Bennani et al, 2023;Bond and Titus, 1983;Demolliens et al, 2017;Guerin, 1986;Huguet et al, 1999;Huguet et al, 2014;Zajonc, 1965). Typically, mere presence of others enhances performance on easy, well-mastered tasks, and impairs performance on difficult not yet mastered tasks, presumably through attentional mechanisms (Bond and Titus, 1983;Sanders et al, 1978).…”