Visual learning and discrimination using Proboscis Extension Reflex in restrained Africanized honey bees, Apis mellifera scutellata

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Visual learning and discrimination using Proboscis Extension Reflex in restrained Africanized honey bees, Apis mellifera scutellata Christopher Jernigan1, 2*, William Wcislo1 and Andre Riveros1 1 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama 2 Butler University, United States During foraging, honey bees largely rely on visual cues and signals for navigation and food selection. Numerous studies using free-flying bees have demonstrated that European honey bees readily learn floral colors, textures and shapes, and associate them with rewards like pollen and nectar. Associative color learning has been demonstrated to be very poor using restrained European honey bees, unless the antennae are amputated. Consequently, our understanding of the proximate mechanisms of visual processing, and the study of bimodal learning under restrained conditions, is limited. Here we tested the learning performance under restrained conditions of Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) presented with visual stimulation during the proboscis extension response (PER) protocol. Individuals were restrained and trained to learn an association between a stimulus and a sugar-water reward. Colored lights were used as the visual stimuli and we evaluated performance for both “absolute” learning (i.e., learning the association between a color and a reward) and “discriminant” learning (i.e., learning to discriminate between a rewarded and an unrewarded color). Approximately half of the bees learned the absolute association when green (max 39% PER) and blue (max 56% PER), but not violet (max 11% PER and not different from control bees), were used. However, memory after 24 hours was very poor (max 7% PER across colors). Also, honey bees readily discriminated between the color combinations in which blue or green was rewarded, and showed either equal or greater learning percentages to those observed for absolute (max 46% PER for green). Additionally, 24 hour memory was much better during the discrimination task than during the absolute association (between 15%-55%). Thus, compared with previous accounts in European honey bees, we found that Africanized honey bees exhibit a greater affinity for forming visual associations in restrained settings. We also found that antennal amputation is not necessary, and in fact greatly reduces learning in Africanized honey bees. Hence, color learning can be studied using the PER protocol using intact Africanized honey bees, which offers an opportunity to study visual learning as well as bimodal learning in restrained bees. Figure 1 Figure 2 Keywords: Classical Conditioning, Color Vision, Honey bee, insect learning, PER Conference: Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology, College Park. Maryland USA, United States, 5 Aug - 10 Aug, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster (but consider for participant symposium and student poster award) Topic: Sensory: Vision Citation: Jernigan C, Wcislo W and Riveros A (2012). Visual learning and discrimination using Proboscis Extension Reflex in restrained Africanized honey bees, Apis mellifera scutellata. Conference Abstract: Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnbeh.2012.27.00210 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 29 Apr 2012; Published Online: 07 Jul 2012. * Correspondence: Mr. Christopher Jernigan, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa, Panama, cmjernigan8@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Christopher Jernigan William Wcislo Andre Riveros Google Christopher Jernigan William Wcislo Andre Riveros Google Scholar Christopher Jernigan William Wcislo Andre Riveros PubMed Christopher Jernigan William Wcislo Andre Riveros Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.