Differences in performance on a reversal learning test and division of labor in honey bee colonies |
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Authors: | Y Ben-Shahar C K Thompson S M Hartz B H Smith G E Robinson |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA e-mail: yehudab@life.uiuc.edu, Tel.: +1-217-2440895, Fax: +1-217-2443499, US;(2) Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Fellow, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA, US;(3) Department of Statistics, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA, US;(4) Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA, US |
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Abstract: | We studied the association between honey bee (Apis mellifera) division of labor and performance on an olfactory reversal-learning test. Manipulations of colony age structure and flight
experience were used to test whether differences in performance are associated with age, current behavioral state, or flight
experience. Nurse bees showed significantly faster rates of extinction to a learned odor than did foragers. This difference
was associated primarily with differences in behavioral state, rather than age; it was seen when comparing nurses and foragers
from typical colonies and normal-age nurses and precocious foragers from single-cohort colonies. Differences in extinction
rate were not related to differences in flight experience; there was no difference between foragers and foraging-age bees
denied flight experience. These results suggest that changes in learning and memory occur in association with division of
labor. We speculate on the possible functional significance of the difference in extinction rate between nurses and foragers.
Received: 15 January 2000 / Accepted: 22 August 2000 |
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Keywords: | Proboscis extension reflex Associative learning Social insects |
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