Uniform discrimination of pattern orientation by honeybees

Chandra, Sathees BC and Geetha, L and Abraham, VA and Karanth, Praveen and Thomas, Kenaz and Srinivasan, Mandyam V and Gadagkar, Raghavendra (1998) Uniform discrimination of pattern orientation by honeybees. In: Animal Behaviour, 56 (6). pp. 1391-1398.

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Abstract

To explore how honeybees, Apis cerana, discriminate the orientation of patterns, we trained workers to discriminate between a black stripe of a certain orientation on a white disc and a pure white disc. We tested trained bees for their ability to discriminate between the trained orientation and deviations from it. This was done either in a dual choice situation where the bees had to choose between the trained orientation and one deviation from it at a time, or in a multiple choice situation where bees had to choose simultaneously between the trained orientation and 11 successive deviations from it. In the dual choice situation, bees did not discriminate behaviourally between the trained orientation and deviations up to $25^o$, whereas in a multiple choice situation, they discriminated between the trained orientation and a deviation of $15^o$ or more. Thus, orientation can be analysed more precisely in multiple choice experiments. The response of the bees was independent of the orientation of the trained orientation; the 12 different trained orientations all yielded identical results. This finding, considered together with a model that we present for orientation discrimination, suggests that at least three orientation-sensitive channels (a neuron or a set of neurons that respond maximally to a particular orientation) participate in the analysis of pattern orientation.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Animal Behaviour
Publisher:	The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	07 Feb 2007
Last Modified:	23 Feb 2012 05:59
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/9456

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