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Honeybee Neurobiology and Behavior pp 439–455Cite as

Tactile Antennal Learning in the Honey Bee

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Abstract

The different forms of tactile antennal learning in the honey bee are based on operant activity of the antennae. Flexible motor programs of the antennae are used for monitoring multimodal signals in the space around the head.

Bees can learn the three-dimensional location of an object within the reach of the antennae by touching it frequently. During operant conditioning bees learn that antennal contacts with an object lead to a sucrose reward. Operant antennal conditioning is side specific and bees learn to discriminate between different objects. Operant antennal conditioning can be reduced to conditioning of the activity of the fast flagellum flexor muscle (FFF muscle) which is innervated by a single motoneuron.

Using the proboscis extension reflex (PER) bees can be conditioned to discriminate between different surface structures, forms, sizes and locations of objects. The characteristics of PER conditioning are similar to those of olfactory PER conditioning under laboratory conditions. Mechanoreceptors on the antennal tip are used for surface discrimination. Bees that discriminate between different surface structures show characteristic antennal scanning movements.

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Abbreviations

AMMC:

Antennal-mechanosensory motor center

MB:

Mushroom bodies

PER:

Proboscis extension reflex

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Ökologie, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Joachim Erber

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  1. Joachim Erber
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Correspondence to Joachim Erber .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Neurobiology, Universität Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, Konstanz, 78457, Germany

    C. Giovanni Galizia

  2. , Department of Neurobiology, Freie Universität Berlin, Königin-Luise-Str. 28-30, Berlin, 14195, Germany

    Dorothea Eisenhardt

  3. , Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition An, CNRS - Université Paul Sabatier, Route de Narbonne 118, Toulouse Cedex 9, 31062, France

    Martin Giurfa

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Erber, J. (2012). Tactile Antennal Learning in the Honey Bee. In: Galizia, C., Eisenhardt, D., Giurfa, M. (eds) Honeybee Neurobiology and Behavior. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2099-2_33

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