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<p>How and why cognitive phenotypes vary between and within species remain contested. The cognitive demands associated with social interactions and environmental variability are hypothesized to be the predominant factors governing cognitive evolution. However, these factors fail to account for a large fraction of variation in animal cognition. Evidence is accumulating that interactions between predators and prey can drive cognitive evolution, although exploring this link has been constrained by methodological barriers and&#xa0;is often overlooked. In&#xa0;this Perspective, we outline how predator–prey interactions produce cognitive variation and drive cognitive evolution. We formalize this as the predatory intelligence hypothesis (PIH), which posits that the cognitive challenges associated with predator–prey interactions drive a cognitive co-evolutionary arms race between predators and prey, and that the result of this race is bidirectional enhancements across a suite of cognitive traits. We provide a series of predictions based on the PIH, and detail avenues for future research that will help to&#xa0;clarify the role of predation in cognitive evolution.</p>

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Predator–prey interactions as drivers of cognitive evolution

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月26日

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  • Eamonn I. F. Wooster,
  • Martin J. Whiting,
  • Dale G. Nimmo,
  • Ferran Sayol,
  • Alexandra J. R. Carthey,
  • Lauren A. Stanton,
  • Benjamin J. Ashton

摘要

How and why cognitive phenotypes vary between and within species remain contested. The cognitive demands associated with social interactions and environmental variability are hypothesized to be the predominant factors governing cognitive evolution. However, these factors fail to account for a large fraction of variation in animal cognition. Evidence is accumulating that interactions between predators and prey can drive cognitive evolution, although exploring this link has been constrained by methodological barriers and is often overlooked. In this Perspective, we outline how predator–prey interactions produce cognitive variation and drive cognitive evolution. We formalize this as the predatory intelligence hypothesis (PIH), which posits that the cognitive challenges associated with predator–prey interactions drive a cognitive co-evolutionary arms race between predators and prey, and that the result of this race is bidirectional enhancements across a suite of cognitive traits. We provide a series of predictions based on the PIH, and detail avenues for future research that will help to clarify the role of predation in cognitive evolution.