Abstract
Honeybees foraging for sucrose at a laboratory window were trained in a series of ten 100-trial problems to choose between two targets differing in odor, one of them providing 10 µl of a 50% sucrose solution and the other 10 µl of water. In 9 of the problems, two odors were used, and the reward ratio was varied systematically over a wide range. In the 10th problem, three odors were used in an ambiguous-cue (A+/B−, B+/C−) design. The results were predicted quantitatively, and with substantial accuracy, from a simple theory of learning and choice developed in previous work on simultaneous discrimination in honeybees.
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This research was supported by Grant BNS-9010609 from the National Science Foundation and by Research Centers for Minority Institutions Grant RR0306I from the National Institutes of Health.
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Fischer, M.E., Couvillon, P.A. & Bitterman, M.E. Choice in honeybees as a function of the probability of reward. Animal Learning & Behavior 21, 187–195 (1993). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197981
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197981