Wystrach Antoine, Cheng Ken, Sosa Sebastian, Beugnon Guy
Universite de Toulouse UPS, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, France.
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process. 2011 Oct;37(4):420-35. doi: 10.1037/a0023886.
When tested in rectangular arenas, the navigational behavior of the ant Gigantiops destructor can produce results similar to vertebrates. Such results are usually interpreted as supporting the ability of animals to segregate spatial geometry and features. Here, we combine a detailed analysis of ants' paths with panoramic images taken from the ant's perspective that can serve as a basis for developing view-based matching models. The corner choices observed in ants were better predicted by the use of panoramic views along with a simple matching process [rotational image difference function (rIDF)] than by models assuming segregation of geometry and features (G/F). Our view-based matching model could also explain some aspects of the ants' path (i.e., initial direction, length) resulting from the different visual conditions, suggesting that ants were using such a taxon-like strategy. Analyzed at the individual level, the results show that ants' idiosyncratic paths tend to evolve gradually from trial to trial, revealing that the ants were partially updating their route memory after each trial. This study illustrates the remarkable flexibilities that can arise from the use of taxon-like strategies and stresses the importance of considering them in vertebrates.
在矩形场地中进行测试时，巨型猛蚁（Gigantiops destructor）的导航行为能产生与脊椎动物相似的结果。此类结果通常被解释为支持动物区分空间几何形状和特征的能力。在此，我们将对蚂蚁路径的详细分析与从蚂蚁视角拍摄的全景图像相结合，这些全景图像可作为开发基于视图的匹配模型的基础。与假设几何形状和特征分离（G/F）的模型相比，使用全景视图以及简单的匹配过程[旋转图像差异函数（rIDF）]能更好地预测蚂蚁的拐角选择。我们基于视图的匹配模型还能解释不同视觉条件下蚂蚁路径的某些方面（即初始方向、长度），这表明蚂蚁采用了这种类似分类单元的策略。在个体层面进行分析时，结果表明蚂蚁独特的路径往往会在一次次试验中逐渐演变，这表明蚂蚁在每次试验后会部分更新其路线记忆。本研究说明了使用类似分类单元的策略可能产生的显著灵活性，并强调了在脊椎动物中考虑这些策略的重要性。
