Aversive learning of odor-heat associations in ants

Desmedt, Lucie; Baracchi, David; Devaud, Jean-Marc; Giurfa, Martín; d’Ettorre, Patrizia

doi:10.1242/jeb.161737

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Moreover, the nature of the neutral stimulus and the valance of the unconditional stimulus can influence learning performance. For example, Desmedt et al (2017) found that Camponotus aethiops retained an association between a negative stimulus (heat) and 1-Hexanol 10 min after exposure, while they failed to retain a similar association to Octanal. Drosophila larvae successfully learn to associate a reward (fructose) with either light or dark, but seem unable to learn to associate punishments (table salt or quinine) with light levels (Gerber et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Very rapid multi-odour discrimination learning in the ant Lasius niger

Czaczkes

Kumar

2020

Insect. Soc.

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Insects can be very good learners. For example, they can form associations between a cue and a reward after only one exposure. Discrimination learning, in which multiple cues are associated with different outcomes, is critical for responding correctly complex environments. However, the extent of such discrimination learning is not well explored. Studies concerning discrimination learning within one valence are also rare. Here we ask whether Lasius niger ants can form multiple concurrent associations to different reward levels, and how rapidly such associations can be learned. We allowed individual workers to sequentially feed on up to four different food qualities, each associated with a different odour cue. Using pairwise preference tests, we found that ants can successfully learn at least two, and likely three, odour/quality associations, requiring as little as one exposure to each combination in order for learning to take place. By testing preference between two non-extreme values (i.e. between 0.4 M and 0.8 M having been trained to the qualities 0.2, 0.4, 0.8 and 1.6) we exclude the possibility that ants are only memorising the best and worst values in a set. Such rapid learning of multiple associations, within one valence and one modality, is impressive, and makes Lasius niger a very tractable model for complex training paradigms.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Very rapid multi-odour discrimination learning in the ant Lasius niger

Czaczkes

Kumar

2020

Insect. Soc.

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“…Carrillo et al, 2000). Insects are not an exception to this situation: differential conditioning enhances discrimination and decreases the level of generalization between olfactory stimuli in fruit flies (Barth et al, 2014) and carpenter ants (Desmedt et al, 2017;Josens et al, 2009;Perez et al, 2016). In honey bees, a similar phenomenon has been observed in the case of visual discriminations (Avargues-Weber and Giurfa, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…Bees had to learn the discrimination between the CS+ and the CS−. This conditioning form is particularly useful to determine whether individuals can indeed distinguish between two stimuli as it improves discrimination in various species and sensory modalities due to the different outcome of the conditioned stimuli (Avargues-Weber and Giurfa, 2014; Barth et al, 2014;Desmedt et al, 2017;Dyer and Chittka, 2004;Giurfa, 2004;Giurfa et al, 1999;Hanson, 1959;Josens et al, 2009;Perez et al, 2016).…”

Section: Experiments 2: Differential Conditioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can honey bees discriminate between floral-fragrance isomers?

Aguiar

Roselino

Sazima

et al. 2018

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Many flowering plants present variable complex fragrances, which usually include different isomers of the same molecule. As fragrance is an essential cue for flower recognition by pollinators, we ask whether honey bees discriminate between floral-fragrance isomers in an appetitive context. We used the olfactory conditioning of the proboscis extension response, which allows training a restrained bee to an odor paired with sucrose solution. Bees were trained under an absolute (a single odorant rewarded) or a differential conditioning regime (a rewarded versus a non-rewarded odorant) using four different pairs of isomers. One hour after training, discrimination and generalization between pairs of isomers were tested. Bees trained under absolute conditioning exhibited high generalization between isomers and discriminated only one out of four isomer pairs; after differential conditioning, they learned to differentiate between two out of four pairs of isomers but in all cases generalization responses to the non-rewarding isomer remained high. Adding an aversive taste to the non-rewarded isomer facilitated discrimination of isomers that otherwise seemed non-discriminable but generalization remained high. Although honey bees discriminated isomers under certain conditions, they achieved the task with difficulty and tended to generalize between them, thus showing that these molecules were perceptually similar to them. We conclude that the presence of isomers within floral fragrances might not necessarily contribute to a dramatic extent to floral odor diversity.

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“…For example, in honey bees, sting extension response (SER) conditioning research investigates how restrained bees learn to sting in response to a stimulus associated with shock (Vergoz et al, 2007;Tedjakumala & Guirfa, 2013). Similar work has also been conducted in other Hymenoptera (e.g., Desmedt et al, 2017). Unfortunately, there is not yet analogous work with bumble bees.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The disturbance leg-lift response (DLR): an undescribed behavior in bumble bees

Varnon¹,

Vallely²,

Beheler³

et al. 2021

PeerJ

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Background Bumble bees, primarily Bombus impatiens and B. terrestris, are becoming increasingly popular organisms in behavioral ecology and comparative psychology research. Despite growing use in foraging and appetitive conditioning experiments, little attention has been given to innate antipredator responses and their ability to be altered by experience. In this paper, we discuss a primarily undescribed behavior, the disturbance leg-lift response (DLR). When exposed to a presumably threatening stimulus, bumble bees often react by lifting one or multiple legs. We investigated DLR across two experiments. Methods In our first experiment, we investigated the function of DLR as a prerequisite to later conditioning research. We recorded the occurrence and sequence of DLR, biting and stinging in response to an approaching object that was either presented inside a small, clear apparatus containing a bee, or presented directly outside of the subject’s apparatus. In our second experiment, we investigated if DLR could be altered by learning and experience in a similar manner to many other well-known bee behaviors. We specifically investigated habituation learning by repeatedly presenting a mild visual stimulus to samples of captive and wild bees. Results The results of our first experiment show that DLR and other defensive behaviors occur as a looming object approaches, and that the response is greater when proximity to the object is lower. More importantly, we found that DLR usually occurs first, rarely precedes biting, and often precedes stinging. This suggests that DLR may function as a warning signal that a sting will occur. In our second experiment, we found that DLR can be altered as a function of habituation learning in both captive and wild bees, though the captive sample initially responded more. This suggests that DLR may be a suitable response for many other conditioning experiments.

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Aversive learning of odor-heat associations in ants

Cited by 14 publications

References 59 publications

Very rapid multi-odour discrimination learning in the ant Lasius niger

Very rapid multi-odour discrimination learning in the ant Lasius niger

Can honey bees discriminate between floral-fragrance isomers?

The disturbance leg-lift response (DLR): an undescribed behavior in bumble bees

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