Learning a Behavioral Sequence: An Accessible Challenge for Myrmica sabuleti Workers?

Abstract

We aimed to investigate on the ability of the ant Myrmica sabuleti in learning a behavioral sequence. We created two sequences consisting in navigating through five successive elements on the way to the nest, and tried to learn them to foragers. They could progressively learn a sequence for which the different steps were presented in a backward order. Doing so, each exhibited step leaded to an already known step and thus to the reward consisting in finally entering the nest. The ants were unable to learn a behavioral sequence for which the different steps were presented in a forward order. With the latter kind of presentation, each exhibited step leaded to an unknown step and thus not to the reward. Myrmica sabuleti ants learned thus a behavioral sequence when going through operant conditioning and not by using the response to a step as a motivation for responding to the next step. On the contrary, highly evolved mammals (monkey, humans) and birds (parrots) can learn a behavioral sequence according to a backward or a forward chaining, or by being presented with the entire sequence and memorizing, then imitating the different steps.

Myrmica sabuleti Workers Cannot Acquire Serial Recognition if not Rewarded

“…We also showed that the ants could very obviously acquire serial recognition when receiving some reward together with the correct sequence during about four days, even reaching a maximum score of 60% after 7 training days. These results agreed with two previous ones according to which the ants could perform a behavioral sequence (Cammaerts & Cammaerts, 2018a) and recognize a correct sequence (Cammaerts & Cammaerts, 2018b) when the correct sequences were located during training in front of the nest or the sugar tube entrance, thus when being rewarded after having performed or moved along the sequence. The here shown ants' serial recognition acquisition is thus, finally an operant conditioning.…”

“…We recently approached this topic in the ant Myrmica sabuleti Meinert 1861. We first addressed response chaining, and showed that ants could learn a behavioral sequence when being rewarded at the end of the sequence, and that the last act of the sequence was better learned than the previous ones (Cammaerts M.-C. and Cammaerts R., 2018a). We then addressed serial recognition, and showed 1. that the ants could recognize a correct sequence made of three or four elements, given the choice between a correct and two or three wrong sequences, when being rewarded during the training, and 2. that the last element of the sequence was the best memorized (Cammaerts M.-C. and Cammaerts R., 2018b).…”

Ants Can Anticipate the Following Quantity in an Arithmetic Sequence

“…This kind of behavior is not unforeseen since workers of this ant possess several cognitive abilities. Among others, they can recognize themselves in a mirror though having probably no self-awareness, solve simple problems (e.g., walking around a barrier), learn to react to novel situations (e.g., pulling on a double door), learn a behavioral sequence, and can acquire serial recognition, but only if rewarded [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. They can present an acquired conditional behavior in a subsequent situation (e.g., having been conditioned at the same time to a cue associated with meat and to another cue associated with sugar water, when deprived of meat, they react to the cue that was previously associated with meat, and when deprived of sugar water, they react to the one that was previously associated with sugar water [ 33 ]).…”