Transfer and interference in bumblebee learning
Article Abstract:
Bees are unable to generalize from one learning incident to another in the needed way, but they can learn to alternate between some special tasks without reduction in performance. Experiments on bumblebees, Bombus occidentalis, show no evidence for positive transfer from one related task to another. There is an initial reduction in performance after switching from task 2 back to task 1. Bees stop showing an initial reduction in performance after switching, if trained to switch back and forth between two tasks.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 1995
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Recall of flower handling skills by bumble bees: a test of Darwin's interference hypothesis
Article Abstract:
Darwin's interference hypothesis on the recall of flower handling skills by bumble bees is tested using two plant species, comfrey and vetch. Results show that learning to handle flowers of one plant species does interfere with remembering previously learned flower handling skills. However, interference between flower handling methods does not account for the flower constancy of bumble bees visiting morphologically simple flowers such as vetch and comfrey.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 1992
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Effects of nectar variance on learning by bumble bees
Article Abstract:
The learning abilities of bumblebees in discriminating rewarding from non-rewarding flowers under four levels of nectar variance are evaluated. Although bees learn more slowly when there isvariance in nectar than when there is no variance, learning rates do not significantly decrease with an increase in nectar variance. Therefore, bumble bees base their foraging decisions from a certain maximum number of flowers sampled.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 1993
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