Äquivalenz zwischen größen- und helligkeitsunterschieden im rahmen der visuellen wahrnehmung der honigbiene

Abstract

After being trained on large (+) and small (-) black discs Honeybees reacted in tests both to differences in size and in degree of greyness. In transfer experiments these parameters were tested against one another. It was established that for any grey disc there is a smaller black disc which the bee chooses with equal frequency (50:50)-notwithstanding the fact that it can clearly distinguish between them. This 50:50-ratio can be accepted as an indication that the bee perceives these discs as ‘equally different’ from the rewarded training figure. This provides a measure for comparing different parameters based on the bee itself. A test using a third pattern (rings) revealed the relation ‘equally different’ to be transitive and, hence, an equivalence relation. Different perceptual parameters are postulated and treated as coordinates of an abstract vector space (perceptual space).