Fast learning but coarse discrimination of colours in restrained honeybees

Niggebrügge, Claudia; Leboulle, Gérard; Menzel, Randolf; Komischke, Bernhard; Ibarra, Natalie Hempel de

doi:10.1242/jeb.021881

Cited by 64 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…4). Antennal amputation in EHB facilitated greater color learning in restrained bees using a PER method (Hori et al, 2006;Niggebrügge et al, 2009). However, these studies are difficult to compare with the current study or even each other because the training methods varied.…”

Section: Comparison With Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…To determine the effect of de-antennation on performance during color conditioning we first compared the two degrees of amputation used in earlier studies, removing the entire antennae (scape, pedicel and flagellum) (see Hori et al, 2006), or just the flagellum (see Niggebrügge et al, 2009) (N=15 bees each). Bees were then trained to the blue stimulus using the methods described above.…”

Section: Experiments 4 (Effect Of Antennal Amputation On Absolute Colomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Excluding olfactory input through antennal amputation leads to higher performance during PER visual learning in EHB, with up to 70% color learning in 10 trials (Niggebrügge et al, 2009) (see also Kuwabara, 1957;Hori et al, 2006;Mota et al, 2011). In contrast to EHBs, antennal amputation is not required for PER color conditioning of the bumble bee, Bombus impatiens (Riveros and Gronenberg, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Color dependent learning in restrained Africanized honey bees

Jernigan

Roubik

Wcislo

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Associative color learning has been demonstrated to be very poor using restrained European honey bees unless the antennae are amputated. Consequently, our understanding of proximate mechanisms in visual information processing is handicapped. Here we test learning performance of Africanized honey bees under restrained conditions with visual and olfactory stimulation using the proboscis extension response (PER) protocol. Restrained individuals were trained to learn an association between a color stimulus and a sugar-water reward. We evaluated performance for 'absolute' learning (learned association between a stimulus and a reward) and 'discriminant' learning (discrimination between two stimuli). Restrained Africanized honey bees (AHBs) readily learned the association of color stimulus for both blue and green LED stimuli in absolute and discriminatory learning tasks within seven presentations, but not with violet as the rewarded color. Additionally, 24-h memory improved considerably during the discrimination task, compared with absolute association (15-55%). We found that antennal amputation was unnecessary and reduced performance in AHBs. Thus color learning can now be studied using the PER protocol with intact AHBs. This finding opens the way towards investigating visual and multimodal learning with application of neural techniques commonly used in restrained honey bees.

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Section: Comparison With Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Experiments 4 (Effect Of Antennal Amputation On Absolute Colomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Color dependent learning in restrained Africanized honey bees

Jernigan

Roubik

Wcislo

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Typically 3-5 trials were used (Menzel, 1999;Hori et al, 2006;Niggebrügge et al, 2009). This can lead to long-term effects within 2min if the trials follow each other quickly (Menzel and Müller, 1996).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behaviour towards an unpreferred colour: can green flowers attract foraging hawkmoths?

Balkenius

2010

Journal of Experimental Biology

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The animals used were both males and females of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta L. (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). Larvae were reared on an artificial diet (Bell and Joachim, 1976) with 200mgl -1 of beta-carotene added .The animals were kept under a 16h:8h light:dark cycle at 23-25°C, 40-50% relative humidity. The training and tests were Accepted 6 July 2010 SUMMARY Naïve hawkmoths (Manduca sexta) learn from a single trial to approach and attempt to feed from an artificial flower of an innately unpreferred green colour even when a distractor flower with a preferred yellow colour is present. In some of the animals, the choice of the innately unpreferred colour during free-flight testing persists for several days despite not being rewarded and eventually leads to starvation. The results show that moths exhibit a very strong flower constancy that is not limited to the colours of nectar flowers.

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“…Bees learn diverse colours easily (Menzel 1967;Menzel 1979;Vorobyev et al 1999;Niggebrügge et al 2009), although strong colour contrast seems to render coloured stimuli more salient for bees (Niggebrügge and Hempel de Ibarra 2003). It was sufficient to briefly reward bees of each species on pale yellow stimuli with a weak, but perceivable colour contrast, in order to shift their preference curve, as predicted, towards yellow.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Facial patterns in a tropical social wasp correlate with colony membership

Baracchi

Turillazzi

Chittka

2016

Sci Nat

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The spontaneous occurrence of colour preferences without learning has been demonstrated in several insect species; however, the underlying mechanisms are still not understood. Here, we use a comparative approach to investigate spontaneous and learned colour preferences in foraging bees of two tropical and one temperate species. We hypothesised that tropical bees utilise different sets of plants and therefore might differ in their spontaneous colour preferences. We tested colour-naive bees and foragers from colonies that had been enclosed in large flight cages for a long time. Bees were shortly trained with triplets of neutral, UV-grey stimuli placed randomly at eight locations on a black training disk to induce foraging motivation. During unrewarded tests, the bees' responses to eight colours were video-recorded. Bees explored all colours and displayed an overall preference for colours dominated by long or short wavelengths, rather than a single colour stimulus. Naive Apis cerana and Bombus terrestris showed similar choices. Both inspected long-wavelength stimuli more than short-wavelength stimuli, whilst responses of the tropical stingless bee Tetragonula iridipennis differed, suggesting that resource partitioning could be a determinant of spontaneous colour preferences. Reward on an unsaturated yellow colour shifted the bees' preference curves as predicted, which is in line with previous findings that brief colour experience overrides the expression of spontaneous preferences. We conclude that rather than determining foraging behaviour in inflexible ways, spontaneous colour preferences vary depending on experimental settings and reflect potential biases in mechanisms of learning and decision-making in pollinating insects.

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Fast learning but coarse discrimination of colours in restrained honeybees

Cited by 64 publications

References 54 publications

Color dependent learning in restrained Africanized honey bees

Color dependent learning in restrained Africanized honey bees

Behaviour towards an unpreferred colour: can green flowers attract foraging hawkmoths?

Facial patterns in a tropical social wasp correlate with colony membership

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