Abstract: Many studies have found that prey capture rates significantly affect how long foraging spiders remain in an area. Perceptual information on prey, even without prey capture, has also been shown to significantly influence spider foraging patch residence time. However, the relative value of each type of information (e.g. perception, capture, handling, and ingestion) in the foraging decision rules have never been compared. This study examines the relative value of feeding experience versus perceiving food in the residence time decision of wolf spiders. Spiders were exposed to four experimental treatiments: 1) a foraging patch with a dead cricket to be consumed; 2) a patch with 12 live crickets behind a transparent screen, but no cricket for consumption; 3) a patch with both live crickets behind a screen and a single dead cricket for consumption; and 4) an empty patch serving as a control. Although feeding resulted in significantly longer patch residence times than the control, the perception of prey was the single most important factor influencing residence time. Results showed no significant difference in residence time between the sensory only treatment and the treatment with both prey consumption and the perception of prey. Analysis of residence times after the spider has fed on a single cricket indicate no significant effect of the experience of feeding in a patch and subsequent visits to that patch. These results suggest that potential energy value weigh more heavily than current or past energy consumed in a patch and that post-ingestive feedback information is less important than pre-ingestive sensory cues.