The theory is based on the assumption that, when searching for information, humans use "built-in" foraging mechanisms that evolved to help our animal ancestors find food.
In the early 1990s, Peter Pirolli and Stuart Card from PARC noticed the similarities between users' information searching patterns and animal food foraging strategies.
Although human cognition is not a result of evolutionary pressure to improve Web use, survival-related traits to respond quickly on partial information and reduce energy expenditures force them to optimize their searching behavior and, simultaneously, to minimize the thinking required.
Advanced search engines have changed this fact by reliably providing relevant links, altering the foraging strategies of the users.
Attempts have been made to develop computational cognitive models to characterize information foraging behavior on the Web.