Ants’ Mental Positioning of Amounts on a Number Line

2020

IJB

Self Cite

It was previously shown that workers of the ant Myrmica sabuleti can discriminate small numbers of elements during testing when these elements were identical to those learned during training. Here we examine if this numerosity ability still subsists if the shape, color, size or location of the elements (dots) to count are modified between training and testing. We found that the ants’ counting ability was not significantly affected by changing one of these features although a somewhat lesser ability was observed. Among the changes, it was that of the relative position of the elements which disrupted the most the ants’ counting ability, followed by a change of their size. A change in the color or the shape affected the least the ants’ counting. These impacts of feature changes in the learned cues on the ants’ counting can be explained by characteristics of the visual perception of the species as well as by its behavioral ecology.

Section: Effect Of Shape Color Size and Relative Position Of Elemenmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…This can be accounted for a size effect, i.e. the fact that discrimination becomes harder when numbers or physical stimuli increase in magnitude (Cammaerts & Cammaerts, 2020).…”

Section: Effect Of Shape Color Size and Relative Position Of Elemenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Shape, Color, Size and Relative Position of Elements on Their Counting by an Ant

Cammaerts¹,

2020

IJB

Self Cite

“…The relation between the ants' discrimination and this relative difference was best described by a logarithmic function. This is detailed in Cammaerts and Cammaerts (2020b).…”

Section: Numbers Arrangement On the Number Line (Table 3 Figure 3)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This decrease appeared to vary with the relative difference between two successive numbers according to a logarithmic function. Details in Cammaerts & Cammaerts (2020b). ISSN 2157-6076 2020 Figure 1.…”

Section: Numbers Arrangement On the Number Line (Table 3 Figure 3)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ants’ Numerosity Ability Defined in Nine Studies

Cammaerts¹,

2020

JBLS

Self Cite

The ants Myrmica sabuleti Meinert 1861 can add numbers (as non-symbolic displayed elements) or odors when having perceived them simultaneously. Otherwise, (i.e. having perceived them consecutively), they cannot do so. They can subtract one visual element or an odor when perceiving the result of the subtraction. These ants present a concrete notion of zero when faced to visual or olfactory cues. They locate the zero at the end of a decreasing and at the start of an increasing series of elements, i.e. at its due location. Experimented with smaller and larger numbers, the ants locate the smaller numbers on their left and the larger ones on their right, having thus a mental number line. The ants’ accuracy in discriminating two successive numbers obeys to a logarithmic function of the relative difference between these numbers. Their arrangement of amounts on the number line is thus non-linear but compressed with increasing number magnitude.

“…Honeybees use the counting of up to 4 landmarks for navigating (Dacke & Srinivasan, 2008), can be learned to differentiate under appetitive conditioning 2 and 4 elements from 3 (Gross, Pahl, Si, Zhu, Tautz, & Zhang, 2009;Bortot et al, 2019), can spontaneously discriminate between 1 and a quantity distant by >3 numerosities , and can be learned by appetitive-aversive conditioning to discriminate between 4 and up to 8 elements (Howard, Avarguès-Weber, Garcia, Greentree, & Dyer, 2019d). Ants can discriminate 1 -4 elements (Cammaerts, 2008) and even up to 7 successive elements differing by one unit, but with a decreasing discriminating accuracy as the number of elements increases (Cammaerts R. & Cammaerts, M.-C., 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ants Can Add Up Using Learned Numeric Symbols

Cammaerts¹,

2020

IJB

Self Cite

The workers of the ant Myrmica sabuleti have been shown to be able to add numbers of elements after having seen them simultaneously, side by side, during training, and to be able to acquire single as well as multiple symbolism. It was here examined if these ants could make additions using learned symbols. In fact, after having learned the required symbols during a first conditioning, the ants could, thanks to a second conditioning, carry out operations 1 + 1, 1 + 2, 2 + 2 and 3 + 1 by using the quantities of elements presented as well as their corresponding symbols. This ability results from the ants’ learning of the correspondence between symbols and numbers of elements by an operative conditioning, and from their ability to add up two quantities viewed simultaneously. A comparison of the ants’ score when adding elements and when adding their corresponding symbols suggests that the use of symbolism may represent some facility for the execution of simple arithmetic operations, as is the case in higher animal species.