Brain size predicts learning abilities in bees. Issue 5 (19th May 2021)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Brain size predicts learning abilities in bees. Issue 5 (19th May 2021)
- Main Title:
- Brain size predicts learning abilities in bees
- Authors:
- Collado, Miguel Á.
Montaner, Cristina M.
Molina, Francisco P.
Sol, Daniel
Bartomeus, Ignasi - Abstract:
- Abstract : When it comes to the brain, bigger is generally considered better in terms of cognitive performance. While this notion is supported by studies of birds and primates showing that larger brains improve learning capacity, similar evidence is surprisingly lacking for invertebrates. Although the brain of invertebrates is smaller and simpler than that of vertebrates, recent work in insects has revealed enormous variation in size across species. Here, we ask whether bee species that have larger brains also have higher learning abilities. We conducted an experiment in which field-collected individuals had to associate an unconditioned stimulus (sucrose) with a conditioned stimulus (coloured strip). We found that most species can learn to associate a colour with a reward, yet some do so better than others. These differences in learning were related to brain size: species with larger brains—both absolute and relative to body size—exhibited enhanced performance to learn the reward-colour association. Our finding highlights the functional significance of brain size in insects, filling a major gap in our understanding of brain evolution and opening new opportunities for future research.
- Is Part Of:
- Royal Society open science. Volume 8:Issue 5(2021)
- Journal:
- Royal Society open science
- Issue:
- Volume 8:Issue 5(2021)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 8, Issue 5 (2021)
- Year:
- 2021
- Volume:
- 8
- Issue:
- 5
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2021-0008-0005-0000
- Page Start:
- Page End:
- Publication Date:
- 2021-05-19
- Subjects:
- brain -- cognition -- brain size -- bees -- learning
Science -- Periodicals
500 - Journal URLs:
- https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos ↗
- DOI:
- 10.1098/rsos.201940 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 2054-5703
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library STI - ELD Digital store
- Ingest File:
- 17592.xml