Bumblebees Learn a Relational Rule but Switch to a Win-Stay/Lose-Switch Heuristic After Extensive Training
Mapping animal performance in a behavioral task to underlying cognitive mechanisms and strategies is rarely straightforward, since a task may be solvable in more than one manner. Here, we show that bumblebees perform well on a concept-based visual discrimination task but spontaneously switch from a...
Main Authors: | , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-08-01
|
Series: | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00137/full |
id |
doaj-fcf0738aacee437eb0877a8333b1316c |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-fcf0738aacee437eb0877a8333b1316c2020-11-25T03:18:10ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532020-08-011410.3389/fnbeh.2020.00137564261Bumblebees Learn a Relational Rule but Switch to a Win-Stay/Lose-Switch Heuristic After Extensive TrainingHaDi MaBouDi0HaDi MaBouDi1Cwyn Solvi2Cwyn Solvi3Lars Chittka4School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United KingdomDepartment of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United KingdomSchool of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United KingdomDepartment of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, AustraliaSchool of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United KingdomMapping animal performance in a behavioral task to underlying cognitive mechanisms and strategies is rarely straightforward, since a task may be solvable in more than one manner. Here, we show that bumblebees perform well on a concept-based visual discrimination task but spontaneously switch from a concept-based solution to a simpler heuristic with extended training, all while continually increasing performance. Bumblebees were trained in an arena to find rewards on displays with shapes of different sizes where they could not use low-level visual cues. One group of bees was rewarded at displays with larger shapes and another group at displays with smaller shapes. Analysis of total choices shows bees increased their performance over 30 bouts to above chance. However, analyses of first and sequential choices suggest that after approximately 20 bouts, bumblebees changed to a win-stay/lose-switch strategy. Comparing bees’ behavior to a probabilistic model based on a win-stay/lose-switch strategy further supports the idea that bees changed strategies with extensive training. Analyses of unrewarded tests indicate that bumblebees learned and retained the concept of relative size even after they had already switched to a win-stay, lost-shift strategy. We propose that the reason for this strategy switching may be due to cognitive flexibility and efficiency.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00137/fullabstract conceptsadaptive decision-makinganimal cognitionbehavioral analysescognitive flexibilitycognitive offloading |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
HaDi MaBouDi HaDi MaBouDi Cwyn Solvi Cwyn Solvi Lars Chittka |
spellingShingle |
HaDi MaBouDi HaDi MaBouDi Cwyn Solvi Cwyn Solvi Lars Chittka Bumblebees Learn a Relational Rule but Switch to a Win-Stay/Lose-Switch Heuristic After Extensive Training Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience abstract concepts adaptive decision-making animal cognition behavioral analyses cognitive flexibility cognitive offloading |
author_facet |
HaDi MaBouDi HaDi MaBouDi Cwyn Solvi Cwyn Solvi Lars Chittka |
author_sort |
HaDi MaBouDi |
title |
Bumblebees Learn a Relational Rule but Switch to a Win-Stay/Lose-Switch Heuristic After Extensive Training |
title_short |
Bumblebees Learn a Relational Rule but Switch to a Win-Stay/Lose-Switch Heuristic After Extensive Training |
title_full |
Bumblebees Learn a Relational Rule but Switch to a Win-Stay/Lose-Switch Heuristic After Extensive Training |
title_fullStr |
Bumblebees Learn a Relational Rule but Switch to a Win-Stay/Lose-Switch Heuristic After Extensive Training |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bumblebees Learn a Relational Rule but Switch to a Win-Stay/Lose-Switch Heuristic After Extensive Training |
title_sort |
bumblebees learn a relational rule but switch to a win-stay/lose-switch heuristic after extensive training |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
issn |
1662-5153 |
publishDate |
2020-08-01 |
description |
Mapping animal performance in a behavioral task to underlying cognitive mechanisms and strategies is rarely straightforward, since a task may be solvable in more than one manner. Here, we show that bumblebees perform well on a concept-based visual discrimination task but spontaneously switch from a concept-based solution to a simpler heuristic with extended training, all while continually increasing performance. Bumblebees were trained in an arena to find rewards on displays with shapes of different sizes where they could not use low-level visual cues. One group of bees was rewarded at displays with larger shapes and another group at displays with smaller shapes. Analysis of total choices shows bees increased their performance over 30 bouts to above chance. However, analyses of first and sequential choices suggest that after approximately 20 bouts, bumblebees changed to a win-stay/lose-switch strategy. Comparing bees’ behavior to a probabilistic model based on a win-stay/lose-switch strategy further supports the idea that bees changed strategies with extensive training. Analyses of unrewarded tests indicate that bumblebees learned and retained the concept of relative size even after they had already switched to a win-stay, lost-shift strategy. We propose that the reason for this strategy switching may be due to cognitive flexibility and efficiency. |
topic |
abstract concepts adaptive decision-making animal cognition behavioral analyses cognitive flexibility cognitive offloading |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00137/full |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT hadimaboudi bumblebeeslearnarelationalrulebutswitchtoawinstayloseswitchheuristicafterextensivetraining AT hadimaboudi bumblebeeslearnarelationalrulebutswitchtoawinstayloseswitchheuristicafterextensivetraining AT cwynsolvi bumblebeeslearnarelationalrulebutswitchtoawinstayloseswitchheuristicafterextensivetraining AT cwynsolvi bumblebeeslearnarelationalrulebutswitchtoawinstayloseswitchheuristicafterextensivetraining AT larschittka bumblebeeslearnarelationalrulebutswitchtoawinstayloseswitchheuristicafterextensivetraining |
_version_ |
1724628401996693504 |