Animal Comparative Economics Laboratory, Department of Zoology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg 93053, Germany
Animal Comparative Economics Laboratory, Department of Zoology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg 93053, Germany.
Biol Lett. 2018 Sep;14(9). doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0440.
To make sensible decisions, both humans and other animals must compare the available options against a reference point-either other options or previous experience. Options of higher quality than the reference are considered good value. However, many perceptible attributes of options are value-neutral, such as flower scent. Nonetheless, such value-neutral differences may be part of an expectation. Can a mismatch between the expectation and experience of value-neutral attributes affect perceived value? Consumer psychology theory and results suggest it can. To test this in a non-human animal, we manipulated a value-neutral aspect of a food source-its taste-while keeping its absolute value-its sweetness-the same. Individual ants () were allowed to drink either lemon- or rosemary-flavoured 1 M sucrose. After three successive visits to the food, we switched the taste in the last, fourth, visit to induce a disconfirmation of expectations. In control trials, ants received the same taste on all four visits. Disconfirmed ants showed lower food acceptance and laid less pheromone on the way back to the nest, even though the molarity of the food was unchanged. As ants recruit nest-mates via pheromone depositions, fewer depositions indicate that the ants valued the food less. Thus, an expectation of value-neutral attributes can influence the perceived value of a resource. Such influences of value-neutral variables on value perception may affect how animals interact with and exploit their environment, and may contribute to phenomena such as flower constancy.
为了做出明智的决策，人类和其他动物都必须将可用选项与参考点（其他选项或以往经验）进行比较。质量高于参考点的选项被认为是有价值的。然而，选项中有许多可感知的属性是价值中立的，例如花香。尽管如此，这种价值中立的差异可能是期望的一部分。价值中立属性的期望与体验之间的不匹配会影响感知价值吗？消费者心理学理论和结果表明，情况确实如此。为了在非人类动物中验证这一点，我们操纵了食物来源的一个价值中立方面——其味道，同时保持其绝对价值——甜度不变。允许单个蚂蚁（）饮用柠檬或迷迭香味的 1M 蔗糖。在连续三次访问食物后，我们在最后一次、第四次访问中改变了味道，以引起对期望的否定。在对照试验中，蚂蚁在所有四次访问中都接受相同的味道。被否定的蚂蚁表现出较低的食物接受度，并在返回巢穴的路上留下较少的信息素，尽管食物的摩尔浓度保持不变。由于蚂蚁通过信息素沉积招募巢友，沉积较少表明蚂蚁对食物的评价较低。因此，对价值中立属性的期望可以影响对资源的感知价值。这种价值中立变量对价值感知的影响可能会影响动物与环境的相互作用和利用方式，并可能导致花朵恒定性等现象。
