Learning in an Invertebrate

University Of Hawaii, Honolulu

Investigators

Abstract

Although more than 95% of all animal species are invertebrates, there has been little systematic study of their intelligence. To begin to remedy that deficiency has been the goal of this research with the honeybee, a highly evolved invertebrate of considerable economic importance. The experiments are done with free-flying subjects that come to the laboratory to work for a sugar solution and with restrained subjects that signal their anticipation of reward by extension of the proboscis. The tasks set for the honeybees are much the same as those designed for the study of learning in fishes, birds, and mammals, and their performance in those tasks -- despite the remoteness of the evolutionary relationship and the marked contrast in brain size and structure -- also is much the same. The results support the early speculation in the vertebrate literature that at the root of intelligence Is a set of relatively simple associative mechanisms common to all but the most primitive animals? As tasks of increasing complexity are set for the honeybees, it is to be expected that the absence of more advanced vertebrate capabilities will be evidenced by differences in their performance -- differences that should further our understanding of both the shared and the advanced capabilities.