School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand.
Learn Behav. 2021 Sep;49(3):276-291. doi: 10.3758/s13420-020-00445-2. Epub 2021 Jan 14.
Several non-mutually exclusive hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of cognition in animals. Broadly, these hypotheses fall under two categories: those that pertain to the selective pressures exerted either by sociality or by the ecological niche in which animals live. We review these ideas and then discuss why the highly visual jumping spiders (Salticidae) are excellent models for investigating how cognitive ability evolves. With few exceptions, these behaviorally complex spiders are non-social, making them ideal candidates to explore ideas pertaining to selection based on habitat complexity and selection based on predatory behavior (foraging niche hypotheses). With the exception of Antarctica, salticids are found in all habitats on Earth, ranging from very complex to barren and simple. While many species are generalist predators, a minority also have specialized predatory behavior and prey specialization on dangerous prey, which has been proposed as an explanation for advanced cognitive ability. As this large group has a diversity of habitats in which it lives, diverse predatory behavior, as well as some "social" species, we argue that salticids are ideal candidates for comparative studies to explore the myriad selection factors acting upon a group well known for their cognitive prowess, despite having miniature brains.
已经提出了几个非相互排斥的假设来解释动物认知的进化。广义而言，这些假设分为两类：一类与社会性或动物生活的生态位所施加的选择压力有关；另一类与社会性或动物生活的生态位所施加的选择压力有关。我们将回顾这些想法，然后讨论为什么高度视觉化的跳蛛（Salticidae）是研究认知能力如何进化的绝佳模型。除了极少数例外，这些行为复杂的蜘蛛是无社会性的，这使它们成为探索基于栖息地复杂性和基于捕食行为（觅食生态位假说）选择的理想候选者。除南极洲外，跳蛛科在地球上所有的栖息地都有分布，从非常复杂到贫瘠和简单。虽然许多物种是通用捕食者，但少数物种也具有专门的捕食行为和对危险猎物的猎物专业化，这被认为是高级认知能力的一种解释。由于这个大型群体生活在各种各样的栖息地，具有多样化的捕食行为，以及一些“社会性”物种，我们认为跳蛛科是比较研究的理想候选者，可以探索作用于一个以认知能力而闻名的群体的众多选择因素，尽管它们的大脑很小。
