The findings indicate people, and also non-human animals can only handle so much variety before decision-making skills fall apart. The phenomenon helps to explain why lengthy restaurant menus, long retail offerings, and other situations muddle our minds.

“Our ancestors lived in relatively small, tight-knit communities, so they likely never encountered the level of variety that humans today confront,” co-author Alison Lenton told Discovery News. “Thus it seems likely that our minds simply adapted to deal with the level of variety with which we were regularly confronted.”