Learning, retention and coding of nest-associated visual cues by the Australian desert ant, Melophorus bagoti

Narendra, Ajay; Si, Aung; Sulikowski, Danielle; Chen, Ken

doi:10.1007/s00265-007-0386-2

Cited by 80 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…In these experiments, experienced foragers were confronted with an altered environment and consequently had to adapt their behavior to the new conditions. Faced with an artificial landmark array consisting of four cylinders, the Australian desert ant M. bagoti gradually increased its search performance for the nest on a test field when trained with a different number of trials over different numbers of days (Narendra et al, 2007). As C. fortis did in our replacement experiment, the proportion of ants crossing the fictive nest entrance between the landmarks increased with more experience (Narendra et al, 2007).…”

Section: Novel Learning and Re-learning Exhibit Similar Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…Faced with an artificial landmark array consisting of four cylinders, the Australian desert ant M. bagoti gradually increased its search performance for the nest on a test field when trained with a different number of trials over different numbers of days (Narendra et al, 2007). As C. fortis did in our replacement experiment, the proportion of ants crossing the fictive nest entrance between the landmarks increased with more experience (Narendra et al, 2007). Furthermore, the search time of the Namibian desert ant (Ocymyrmex robustior) until entering the nest decreased significantly from day to day when the entrance of a nest in a landmark-free environment had been furnished with two artificial cylinders (Wehner and Müller, 2010).…”

Section: Novel Learning and Re-learning Exhibit Similar Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ontogeny of learning walks and the acquisition of landmark information in desert ants,Cataglyphis fortis

Fleischmann

Christian

Müller

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

131

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At the beginning of their foraging lives, desert ants (Cataglyphis fortis) are for the first time exposed to the visual world within which they henceforth must accomplish their navigational tasks. Their habitat, North African salt pans, is barren, and the nest entrance, a tiny hole in the ground, is almost invisible. Although natural landmarks are scarce and the ants mainly depend on path integration for returning to the starting point, they can also learn and use landmarks successfully to navigate through their largely featureless habitat. Here, we studied how the ants acquire this information at the beginning of their outdoor lives within a nest-surrounding array of three artificial black cylinders. Individually marked 'newcomers' exhibit a characteristic sequence of learning walks. The meandering learning walks covering all directions of the compass first occur only within a few centimeters of the nest entrance, but then increasingly widen, until after three to seven learning walks, foraging starts. When displaced to a distant test field in which an identical array of landmarks has been installed, the ants shift their search density peaks more closely to the fictive goal position, the more learning walks they have performed. These results suggest that learning of a visual landmark panorama around a goal is a gradual rather than an instantaneous process.

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Section: Novel Learning and Re-learning Exhibit Similar Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Section: Novel Learning and Re-learning Exhibit Similar Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ontogeny of learning walks and the acquisition of landmark information in desert ants,Cataglyphis fortis

Fleischmann

Christian

Müller

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

131

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“…Space limitations are eliminated, and there are a large number of environmental cues that can be experimentally manipulated. Systematic, long-term, and creative field research on wild birds (e.g., Healy & Hurly, 2004) and invertebrates like ants (e.g., Graham & Cheng, 2009;Narendra, Sulikowski, & Cheng, 2007;Wystrach, Beugnon, & Cheng, 2012) and bees (e.g., Menzel et al, 2005) has broadened our understanding of the range of species exhibiting complex spatial abilities and, even more important, elucidated the underlying cognitive mechanisms involved.…”

Section: Studying Comparative Cognition In the Wildmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Cognition Outside the Laboratory

MacDonald¹,

Ritvo²

2016

CCBR

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With its roots firmly planted in behaviorist and animal learning traditions, lab-based research is an enduring and pervasive characteristic of comparative cognition. In this review, we discuss progress in comparative cognition research in other experimental settings such as zoos, captive animal parks, and wild settings. Zoos provide access to a large array of species housed in seminatural environments that allow a reasonable degree of experimental control. Thanks to the advent of computer technology, a wide range of complex cognitive processes is increasingly being successfully studied in zoo environments. Further, cognitive research provides enrichment for captive animal participants, reducing anxiety and promoting psychological well-being. The results of cognitive research also benefit the welfare of captive animals through preference assessment, species-specific exhibit design, and behavioral management. Field settings also offer unique advantages and have allowed researchers to systematically study such diverse topics as spatial cognition, cultural transmission, problem solving, and preference. Not only does field research expand our understanding of the evolutionary and ecological drivers of animal cognition, but it also can directly inform conservation efforts. Although venturing out of the lab presents tangible challenges, including the restriction of testable hypotheses and conclusions that can be inferred from results, the benefits to be gained outweigh the costs.

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“…23 This result seems to confirm the evidence of a number of studies in many species that investigated the reliance on individual landmarks or subsets of them, after successful training with a landmark array: spatial search may turn out to be based either on the entire configuration or on individual landmarks or on parts of the array. 15,[24][25][26][27] Importantly, results of experiments carried out in invertebrates indicate that snapshot-matching mechanisms depending on the retinal projection of the landmarks might account for the ability to orient also with reference to a landmark array, because the search patterns observed after expansion tests crucially depend upon the fact that landmark size is left unaltered or it is accordingly expanded during the tests [28][29][30] ( Figure 4). If, on the one hand, the sensory mechanisms of landmark-based orientation are still debated, on the functional side the utilization of arrays of landmarks has obvious advantages.…”

Section: Nestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychology of spatial cognition

Tommasi

Laeng

2012

WIRES Cognitive Science

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In this overview, focusing on memory and higher cognitive processes, we cover some of the most relevant results that emerged from research on spatial cognition in animals and in humans in the last 3 decades. In particular, we discuss how representations of distance and direction are used to localize oneself with respect to the external world, to determine the position of objects with respect to each other, and to compute the position of invisible goals. The role of landmarks and environmental geometry as cues for extracting spatial information in such abilities is compared, and the reliance upon self-centered and external frames of reference is discussed. Moreover, the contribution of working memory and processing strategies in forming representations of spatial relations in humans is presented. Finally, implications for some neighboring fields of the cognitive sciences will be outlined.

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Learning, retention and coding of nest-associated visual cues by the Australian desert ant, Melophorus bagoti

Cited by 80 publications

References 35 publications

Ontogeny of learning walks and the acquisition of landmark information in desert ants,Cataglyphis fortis

Ontogeny of learning walks and the acquisition of landmark information in desert ants,Cataglyphis fortis

Comparative Cognition Outside the Laboratory

Psychology of spatial cognition

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