Rogers Lesley J, Vallortigara Giorgio
School of Science and Technology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia.
Centre for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy.
Front Psychol. 2019 Feb 14;10:280. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00280. eCollection 2019.
Honeybees show lateral asymmetry in both learning about odors associated with reward and recalling memory of these associations. We have extended this research to show that bees exhibit lateral biases in their initial response to odors: viz., turning toward the source of an odor presented on their right side and turning away from it when presented on their left side. The odors we presented were the main component of the alarm pheromone, isoamyl acetate (IAA), and four floral scents. The significant bias to turn toward IAA odor on the right and away from it on the left is, we argue, a lateralization of the fight-flight response elicited by this pheromone. It contrasts to an absence of any asymmetry in the turning response to an odor of the flowers on which the bees had been feeding prior to testing: to this odor they turned toward when it was presented on either the left or right side. Lemon and orange odors were responded to differently on the left and right sides (toward on the right, away on the left), but no asymmetry was found in responses to rose odor. Our results show that side biases are present even in the initial, orienting response of bees to certain odors.
蜜蜂在学习与奖励相关的气味以及回忆这些关联的记忆方面都表现出侧向不对称性。我们进一步开展了这项研究，以表明蜜蜂在对气味的初始反应中存在侧向偏好：即，当气味出现在它们右侧时会转向气味源，而当气味出现在左侧时则会远离。我们所呈现的气味包括报警信息素的主要成分乙酸异戊酯（IAA）以及四种花香。我们认为，蜜蜂显著倾向于转向右侧的IAA气味并远离左侧的这种现象，是由这种信息素引发的“战斗或逃跑”反应的一种侧向化表现。这与在测试前蜜蜂所采食花朵的气味引发的转向反应中不存在任何不对称性形成对比：对于这种气味，无论出现在左侧还是右侧，它们都会转向。柠檬和橙子气味在左右两侧引发的反应有所不同（右侧转向，左侧远离），但对玫瑰气味的反应未发现不对称性。我们的研究结果表明，即使在蜜蜂对某些气味的初始定向反应中也存在侧向偏好。
