Numerical ordering of zero in honey bees

Howard, Scarlett R.; Avarguès‐Weber, Aurore; Garcia, Jair E.; Greentree, Andrew D.; Dyer, Adrian G.

doi:10.1126/science.aar4975

Cited by 173 publications

(217 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Results of number learning test confirmed previous studies (3)(4)(5) showing that bees can discriminate numerosities with 0.5 and 0.67 ratios when continuous physical variables were controlled for.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

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Transfer from number to size reveals abstract coding of magnitude in honeybees

Bortot

Stancher

Vallortígara

2019

Preprint

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AbstractNumber discrimination has been documented in honeybees. It is not known, however, whether it reflects, as in vertebrates, the operating of an underlying general magnitude system that estimates quantities irrespective of dimensions (e.g., number, space, time) and format (discrete, continuous). We investigated whether bees spontaneously transfer discrete discrimination of number to continuous discrimination of size. Bees were trained to discriminate between different numerical comparisons having either a 0.5 (2 vs. 4 and 4 vs. 8) or 0.67 ratio (2 vs. 3 and 4 vs. 6). Half of the subjects learnt to choose the smaller quantity and the other half the larger quantity. Bees were then tested for spontaneous choice (in the absence of reward) using comparisons with identical numbers but different sizes. Irrespective of the ratio of the stimuli, bees trained to select the smaller numerical quantity chose the congruent smaller size; bees trained to choose the larger numerical quantity chose the congruent larger size. This finding provides the first evidence for a cross-dimensional transfer between discrete (numerical) and continuous (spatial) dimensions in an invertebrate species and supports the hypothesis of a cognitive universality of a coding for general magnitude.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Honeybees (Apis mellifera) have been shown to be able to process the numerical attributes of visual stimuli (1)(2)(3)(4), including the zero as a quantity (5). Given their distant phylogenetic origins, it is unclear, however, to what extent bees (invertebrates) and vertebrates share similarities in number cognition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transfer from number to size reveals abstract coding of magnitude in honeybees

Bortot

Stancher

Vallortígara

2019

Preprint

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“…Bees have been largely studied as for their numerosity ability. Among others, they have the notion of zero, locate the zero at its due mathematical place and can be learned to add or subtract an element under some circumstances (Howard et al, 2018(Howard et al, , 2019. They have been showed to use absolute rather than relative numerosity when discriminating between numbers and appeared to better discriminate 2 vs 3 than 3 vs 4 (Bortot et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…needing to be cited (Howard, Avarguès-Weber, Garcia, Greentree, & Dyer, 2018. Let us precise that the bees add and subtract numbers when learned to do so under given circumstances.…”

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confidence: 99%

Ants’ Mental Positioning of Amounts on a Number Line

Cammaerts¹,

Cammaerts²

2019

IJB

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Myrmica sabuleti ants have a mental number line on which numbers (non-symbolic displayed amounts) are ranked, the smaller on the left and the larger on the right. Here we try to know if the difference between two successive numbers is identically estimated all along this line or is less and less well estimated with increasing number magnitude. Ants were trained to distinguish two successive numbers differing by one unit (1 vs 2, 2 vs 3, …, 6 vs 7) during 72 hours and tested after 7, 24, 31, 48, 55 and 72 h. The ants responded less well for larger numbers (e.g. their response to 6 vs 7 was weaker than that to 1 vs 2). The relation between the ants' ability in discriminating two successive numbers according to their relative difference was best described by a non-linear function, a logarithmic function providing a higher fit than a power function. A linear function could only significantly better fit the data when the ratio or the mean of the two numbers was taken into account, particularly in the case of the mean when large fluctuations in the ants' discrimination score appeared in the course of increasing training time. In fact, mean and ratio do not express the relative difference between numbers. Second-order polynomial functions could provide higher fitting, but generally non-significant. The ants' mental positioning of numerosity on their number line appears thus to be compressed along a non-linear scale, most likely according to a logarithmic function.

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“…etc. (for numerical ability in bees, see Howard et al 2018). Clearly, programming seems to be no less important than brain capacity.…”

Section: Brainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Will recent advances in AI result in a paradigm shift in Astrobiology and SETI?

Gále

Wandel

Hill

2019

International Journal of Astrobiology

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The steady advances in computer performance and in programming raise the concern that the ability of computers would overtake that of the human brain, an occurrence termed "the Singularity". While comparing the size of the human brain and the advance in computer capacity, the Singularity has been estimated to occur within a few decades although the capacity of conventional computers may reach its limits in the near future.

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Numerical ordering of zero in honey bees

Cited by 173 publications

References 25 publications

Transfer from number to size reveals abstract coding of magnitude in honeybees

Transfer from number to size reveals abstract coding of magnitude in honeybees

Ants’ Mental Positioning of Amounts on a Number Line

Will recent advances in AI result in a paradigm shift in Astrobiology and SETI?

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