





Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Program


Degree Type

Master of Science (M.S.)

Year Degree Awarded


Month Degree Awarded



The different ways that animals extract and analyze visual information from their environment is of interest to sensory ecologists. Jumping spiders, well-known for visually guided mating and hunting behavior, are an interesting model for the study of visual attention because they quickly and efficiently integrate information from eight eyes with a small brain. Stimuli in front of the spider are examined by two functionally and morphologically distinct pairs of forward-facing eyes. The principal eyes discern fine details and have small retinas and thus a small visual field. However, their position at the back of moveable tubes within the cephalothorax expands this visual field. The anterolateral eyes, one of the three pairs of secondary eyes, have lower spatial acuity and a larger visual field that overlaps with that of the principal eyes. They act as motion detectors, directing the principal eyes to objects appearing in their visual field. In Chapter 1, using a salticid-specific eyetracker, I explore how characteristics of a stimulus influence whether the secondary eyes redirect the gaze of the principal eyes from a principal stimulus to a new stimulus appearing in the visual field. I found that spiders suppressed redirection of the principal eyes when engaged by a salient stimulus, and redirected to moving peripheral stimuli more frequently than to stationary peripheral stimuli.

The principal eyes are also known to engage in a complex behavior called “scanning,” involving both dorsoventral and rotational movement. One hypothesis regarding scanning’s function is that it helps spiders identify important lines and angles in stimuli. However, scanning routines are not well understood. In Chapter 2, I measured scanning behaviors when spiders were watching quickly moving versus still or slowly moving images. I found that spiders spent more time overall looking at still or slowly moving images, and that stimulus speed does not appear to affect rotational movement of the retinas. Overall, I conclude that motion in an appearing stimulus elicits the attention of the principal eyes, but it remains unclear how and whether scanning functions in the extraction of detail from moving stimuli.


First Advisor

Elizabeth Jakob