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            <i>et al</i>
            . (2019): ‘Nothing to dance about: unclear evidence for symbolic representations and numerical competence in honeybees'

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

doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.0095

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Several authors have suggested that vertebrates share two distinct systems for processing quantitative information. Recent studies on bees have suggested that honeybees may exhibit the numerical distance effect (Bortot et al 2019 ; Howard et al 2018 , 2020a , b ). For example, Bortot et al ( 2019 ) explored the use of the absolute or relative numerosity rule to solve numerical discrimination tasks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Shaki and Fisher concluded that the available evidence does not yet conclusively demonstrate symbolic representations of numerosity, arithmetic abilities, or abstract concept acquisition in honeybees. Howard et al ( 2020b ) responded to the criticism by Shaki and Fischer ( 2020 ), claiming that they trained honeybees to discriminate visual displays with differing numbers of shapes by presenting thousands of different patterns and controlling them for continuous variables, such as convex hull, density, spatial arrangement, and cumulative surface area. MaBouDi et al ( 2021 ) conducted an experiment in which they used the same methods used by Howard et al ( 2018 ).…”

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantitative abilities of invertebrates: a methodological review

2021

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Quantitative abilities are widely recognized to play important roles in several ecological contexts, such as foraging, mate choice, and social interaction. Indeed, such abilities are widespread among vertebrates, in particular mammals, birds, and fish. Recently, there has been an increasing number of studies on the quantitative abilities of invertebrates. In this review, we present the current knowledge in this field, especially focusing on the ecological relevance of the capacity to process quantitative information, the similarities with vertebrates, and the different methods adopted to investigate this cognitive skill. The literature argues, beyond methodological differences, a substantial similarity between the quantitative abilities of invertebrates and those of vertebrates, supporting the idea that similar ecological pressures may determine the emergence of similar cognitive systems even in distantly related species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative abilities of invertebrates: a methodological review

2021

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“…Finally, while there is recent debate about continuous lowlevel cues impacting numerosity tasks in honeybees (Howard et al, 2020b;Shaki and Fischer, 2020;MaBouDi et al, 2021), it is interesting to note that the current task does not allow honeybees use the low-level cues of surface area, perimeter, edge length, spatial frequency, convex hull, density, or size of elements. These cues generally correlate with increasing magnitude, however, as a parity categorization task does not require quantity discrimination (although magnitude can impact accuracy and time), these cues do not predict the correct or incorrect options.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Numerosity Categorization by Parity in an Insect and Simple Neural Network

et al. 2022

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A frequent question as technology improves and becomes increasingly complex, is how we enable technological solutions and models inspired by biological systems. Creating technology based on humans is challenging and costly as human brains and cognition are complex. The honeybee has emerged as a valuable comparative model which exhibits some cognitive-like behaviors. The relative simplicity of the bee brain compared to large mammalian brains enables learning tasks, such as categorization, that can be mimicked by simple neural networks. Categorization of abstract concepts can be essential to how we understand complex information. Odd and even numerical processing is known as a parity task in human mathematical representations, but there appears to be a complete absence of research exploring parity processing in non-human animals. We show that free-flying honeybees can visually acquire the capacity to differentiate between odd and even quantities of 1–10 geometric elements and extrapolate this categorization to the novel numerosities of 11 and 12, revealing that such categorization is accessible to a comparatively simple system. We use this information to construct a neural network consisting of five neurons that can reliably categorize odd and even numerosities up to 40 elements. While the simple neural network is not directly based on the biology of the honeybee brain, it was created to determine if simple systems can replicate the parity categorization results we observed in honeybees. This study thus demonstrates that a task, previously only shown in humans, is accessible to a brain with a comparatively small numbers of neurons. We discuss the possible mechanisms or learning processes allowing bees to perform this categorization task, which range from numeric explanations, such as counting, to pairing elements and memorization of stimuli or patterns. The findings should encourage further testing of parity processing in a wider variety of animals to inform on its potential biological roots, evolutionary drivers, and potential technology innovations for concept processing.

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“…Further, honeybees seem capable of basic arithmetic operations, such as addition and subtraction (Howard et al 2019a). They can learn the association between numerosity and symbol (Howard et al 2019b), which has been interpreted as a possible precursor ability of symbolic number representation (but see Howard et al 2020a;Shaki and Fischer 2020). Another recent study (Howard et al 2018) demonstrated that honeybees can learn "less than" and "more than" concepts, and even seemed to grasp a "concept of zero", i.e., an understanding that zero is a quantity at the low end of the positive numerical continuum (but see Shaki and Fischer 2020 for an alternative explanation for bees' behavior).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does quantity matter to a stingless bee?

2021

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Quantitative information is omnipresent in the world and a wide range of species has been shown to use quantities to optimize their decisions. While most studies have focused on vertebrates, a growing body of research demonstrates that also insects such as honeybees possess basic quantitative abilities that might aid them in finding profitable flower patches. However, it remains unclear if for insects, quantity is a salient feature relative to other stimulus dimensions, or if it is only used as a “last resort” strategy in case other stimulus dimensions are inconclusive. Here, we tested the stingless bee Trigona fuscipennis, a species representative of a vastly understudied group of tropical pollinators, in a quantity discrimination task. In four experiments, we trained wild, free-flying bees on stimuli that depicted either one or four elements. Subsequently, bees were confronted with a choice between stimuli that matched the training stimulus either in terms of quantity or another stimulus dimension. We found that bees were able to discriminate between the two quantities, but performance differed depending on which quantity was rewarded. Furthermore, quantity was more salient than was shape. However, quantity did not measurably influence the bees' decisions when contrasted with color or surface area. Our results demonstrate that just as honeybees, small-brained stingless bees also possess basic quantitative abilities. Moreover, invertebrate pollinators seem to utilize quantity not only as "last resort" but as a salient stimulus dimension. Our study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on quantitative cognition in invertebrate species and adds to our understanding of the evolution of numerical cognition.

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Reply to comment on Howard et al . (2019): ‘Nothing to dance about: unclear evidence for symbolic representations and numerical competence in honeybees'

Cited by 4 publications

References 26 publications

Quantitative abilities of invertebrates: a methodological review

Quantitative abilities of invertebrates: a methodological review

Numerosity Categorization by Parity in an Insect and Simple Neural Network

Does quantity matter to a stingless bee?

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