Zhang Shaowu, Schwarz Sebastian, Pahl Mario, Zhu Hong, Tautz Juergen
ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, PO Box 475, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia.
J Exp Biol. 2006 Nov;209(Pt 22):4420-8. doi: 10.1242/jeb.02522.
Honeybees have the ability to flexibly change their preference for a visual pattern according to the context in which a discrimination task is carried out. This study investigated the effect of time of day, task, as well as both parameters simultaneously, as contextual cue(s) in modulating bees' preference for a visual pattern. We carried out three series of experiments to investigate these interactions. The first series of experiments indicated that trained bees can reverse their pattern preference following midday breaks, as well as an overnight break, at the feeder and at the hive. The second series of experiments showed that trained bees are able to reverse their pattern preference in just a few minutes, depending on whether they are going out to forage or returning to the hive. The third series of experiments demonstrated that trained bees can significantly reverse their pattern preference at the feeder and at the hive entrance following midday breaks, as well as after an overnight break; the bees could also learn to choose different patterns at the feeder and at the hive entrance within each testing period. The training thus imposed a learnt pattern preference on the bees' daily circadian rhythm. This study demonstrates that the bee with a tiny brain possesses a sophisticated memory, and is able to remember tasks within a temporal context. Honey bees can thus ;plan' their activities in time and space, and use context to determine which action to perform and when.
蜜蜂有能力根据执行辨别任务的背景灵活改变它们对视觉图案的偏好。本研究调查了一天中的时间、任务以及这两个参数同时作为背景线索对调节蜜蜂对视觉图案偏好的影响。我们进行了三组实验来研究这些相互作用。第一组实验表明，经过训练的蜜蜂在中午休息以及在喂食器和蜂巢处过夜休息后，能够改变它们的图案偏好。第二组实验表明，经过训练的蜜蜂能够在几分钟内改变它们的图案偏好，这取决于它们是外出觅食还是返回蜂巢。第三组实验证明，经过训练的蜜蜂在中午休息以及过夜休息后，能够在喂食器和蜂巢入口处显著改变它们的图案偏好；蜜蜂在每个测试阶段也能够在喂食器和蜂巢入口处学习选择不同的图案。因此，训练在蜜蜂的日常昼夜节律上施加了一种习得的图案偏好。这项研究表明，拥有微小大脑的蜜蜂具有复杂的记忆，并且能够在时间背景下记住任务。蜜蜂因此能够在时间和空间上“规划”它们的活动，并利用背景来决定执行何种行动以及何时执行。
