Institute of Biology - Neurobiology, Free University of Berlin, 28/30 Königin-Luise-Strass, D-14195 Berlin, Germany.
Nat Rev Neurosci. 2012 Nov;13(11):758-68. doi: 10.1038/nrn3357.
Honeybees contradict the notion that insect behaviour tends to be relatively inflexible and stereotypical. Indeed, they live in colonies and exhibit complex social, navigational and communication behaviours, as well as a relatively rich cognitive repertoire. Because these relatively complex behaviours are controlled by a brain consisting of only 1 million or so neurons, honeybees offer an opportunity to study the relationship between behaviour and cognition in neural networks that are limited in size and complexity. Most recently, the honeybee has been used to model learning and memory formation, highlighting its utility for neuroscience research, in particular for understanding the basis of cognition.
蜜蜂的行为打破了昆虫行为趋于相对僵化和刻板的观念。事实上，它们生活在群体中，表现出复杂的社会、导航和通信行为，以及相对丰富的认知能力。由于这些相对复杂的行为是由一个只有大约 100 万个神经元组成的大脑控制的，因此蜜蜂为研究行为和认知在大小和复杂性有限的神经网络中的关系提供了机会。最近，蜜蜂被用来模拟学习和记忆的形成，突出了其在神经科学研究中的效用，特别是用于理解认知的基础。
