Efficient visual learning by bumble bees in virtual-reality conditions: Size does not matter.
Bombus terrestris
bumble bees
interindividual size/weight differences
reinforcement responses
virtual reality
visual learning
Journal
Insect science
ISSN: 1744-7917
Titre abrégé: Insect Sci
Pays: Australia
ID NLM: 101266965
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Dec 2023
Dec 2023
Historique:
revised:
17
01
2023
received:
21
12
2022
accepted:
27
01
2023
medline:
6
12
2023
pubmed:
4
2
2023
entrez:
3
2
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Recent developments allowed establishing virtual-reality (VR) setups to study multiple aspects of visual learning in honey bees under controlled experimental conditions. Here, we adopted a VR environment to investigate the visual learning in the buff-tailed bumble bee Bombus terrestris. Based on responses to appetitive and aversive reinforcements used for conditioning, we show that bumble bees had the proper appetitive motivation to engage in the VR experiments and that they learned efficiently elemental color discriminations. In doing so, they reduced the latency to make a choice, increased the proportion of direct paths toward the virtual stimuli and walked faster toward them. Performance in a short-term retention test showed that bumble bees chose and fixated longer on the correct stimulus in the absence of reinforcement. Body size and weight, although variable across individuals, did not affect cognitive performances and had a mild impact on motor performances. Overall, we show that bumble bees are suitable experimental subjects for experiments on visual learning under VR conditions, which opens important perspectives for invasive studies on the neural and molecular bases of such learning given the robustness of these insects and the accessibility of their brain.
Identifiants
pubmed: 36734172
doi: 10.1111/1744-7917.13181
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
1734-1748Subventions
Organisme : H2020 European Research Council
ID : COGNIBRAINS
Organisme : H2020 European Research Council
ID : 835032
Organisme : Institut Universitaire de France
ID : Martin Giurfa
Informations de copyright
© 2023 The Authors. Insect Science published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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