title: Olfactory conditioning in the honey bee, Apis mellifera: effects of odor intensity.
abstract: Any odor-guided behavior might require generalization and/or discrimination over a wide range of odorant intensities. Proboscis extension conditioning (PEC) and electroantennogram (EAG) assays were used to investigate stimulus-intensity dynamics during olfactory processing in the honey bee. Experiments that tested generalization involved conditioning to one odorant concentration and either testing with a different odorant or with different concentrations of the same odorant. At low training concentrations, responses to either a novel odorant or to higher concentrations of the same odorant resulted in strong generalization. At higher training concentrations, significantly less generalization was observed to a novel odorant or to lower concentrations of the same odor. EAG analyses indicate that asymmetric generalization could arise due to long-term adaptation of peripheral receptor neurons. Discrimination experiments showed that relatively higher odorant concentrations associated with an appetitive reinforcer could usually be discriminated from a lower concentration that was associated with punishment, but not vice versa. Although sensory modulation in peripheral (sensory) processes might be sufficient to account for discrimination of a high from a low concentration, discrimination of low from high concentrations point to the involvement of central processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210-1220, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhagavan
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001516:Bees; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005795:Generalization, Stimulus; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D012903:Smell
chemical_list: D019422:Dietary Sucrose