Do honeybees detect colour targets using serial or parallel visual search?

Full Abstract

In humans, visual search tasks are commonly used to address the question of how visual attention is allocated in a specific task and how individuals search for a specific object (;target') among other objects (;distractors') that vary in number and complexity. Here, we apply the methodology of visual search experiments to honeybees, which we trained to choose a coloured disc (target) among a varying number of differently coloured discs (distractors). We measured accuracy and decision time as a function of distractor number and colour. We found that for all colour combinations, decision time increased and accuracy decreased with increasing distractor number, whereas performance increased when more targets were present. These findings are characteristic of a serial search in primates, when stimuli are examined sequentially. We found no evidence for parallel search in bees, which would be characterized by a ;pop out' effect, in which the slope of decision time (and accuracy) over distractor number would be near zero. Additionally, we found that decision time and number of errors were significantly higher when bees had to choose a blue target among yellow distractors compared with the inverse colour combination, a phenomenon known as search asymmetry in humans.

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Author information

Author/s: Spaethe, Johannes (J); Tautz, Jürgen (J); Chittka, Lars (L);

Affiliation: Beegroup, Biozentrum, Department of Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology, University of Würzburg, Germany.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The Journal of experimental biology (J Exp Biol), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Mar; vol 209 (issue Pt 6) : pp 987-93

Dates: Created 2006/03/03; Completed 2006/06/23; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 16513924, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Animals
Attention - physiology
Bees - physiology
Color Perception

Associated Chemicals: Sucrose (57-50-1)

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