Pattern discrimination by the honeybee: disruption as a cue
Date
1997-08
Authors
Horridge, George Adrian
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Publisher
Springer Verlag (Germany)
Abstract
The discrimination of pattern disruption in
freely flying honeybees (Apis mellifera) was examined.
Bees were trained to discriminate at a fixed distance
between a regularly repeated black/white pattern and the
same pattern at a different magnification in targets of the
same angular size. The locations of areas of black were
regularly shuffled to make them useless as cues. The
results of the experiments indicate that the bees discriminate
the disruption of the pattern as a whole, irrespective
of the actual pattern. Bees trained to prefer a
larger period transfer to an even larger period, when
given a forced choice with a pair of patterns of differing
disruption from those they were trained on, as if their
spontaneous preference has not been overcome. Bees
trained to prefer a smaller period, however, prefer the
former negative pattern rather than transfer to an even
smaller period. These results show that the bees do not
rely solely on learning the absolute period of a pattern
nor the relative disruption of two patterns, and they are
confused when these two cues conflict in tests with unfamiliar
targets. Bees can discriminate between fields of
view that differ in average disruption as a generalized
cue, irrespective of pattern.
Description
Keywords
Vision, Spatial frequency, Honeybees, Apis mellifera, Pattern discrimination
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Source
Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology
Type
Journal article
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2037-12-31
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