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.

已经提出了几个非互斥的假设来解释动物认知的进化。从广义上讲，这些假设分为两类：与社会性或动物生活的生态位施加的选择压力有关的假设。我们回顾了这些想法，然后讨论了为什么高度视觉的跳蛛 (Salticidae) 是研究认知能力如何进化的优秀模型。除了少数例外，这些行为复杂的蜘蛛是非社会性的，这使它们成为探索有关基于栖息地复杂性的选择和基于捕食行为的选择（觅食生态位假设）的想法的理想候选者。除南极洲外，地球上的所有栖息地都发现了咸鱼，从非常复杂到贫瘠和简单。虽然许多物种是多面手捕食者，但少数物种也有专门的捕食行为和对危险猎物的猎物专门化，这已被提议作为对高级认知能力的解释。由于这个庞大的群体拥有多样化的栖息地、多样化的捕食行为以及一些“社会”物种，我们认为咸鱼是比较研究的理想候选者，以探索作用于众所周知的群体的无数选择因素。尽管拥有微型大脑，但他们的认知能力却是惊人的。