Development of an ethanol model using social insects: III. Preferences for ethanol solutions.
Experiments are designed to assess whether free-flying honey bees have an aversion to an ethanol solution when given a choice between targets containing an ethanol solution in sucrose or sucrose only. Animals given a choice between a 1% ethanol solution and sucrose only show no aversion to the ethanol solution either in acquisition or extinction. Honey bees given a choice between a 5% ethanol solution and sucrose only show no differences in the initial choice of targets but some ees do switch over to the sucrose-only target. Performance during extinction indicates that bees landed on the previously reinforced sucrose-only target more than the target previously containing the 5% ethanol solution. An experiment in which bees were given a single 5%, ethanol target showed that of 20 bees, 11 returned for the entire 12 trials of the experiment. All bees returned at least 6 times to the 5% ethanol target. Additional experiments were run on harnessed foragers in a palatability study of alcoholic beverages consumed by humans. The results of the palatability experiment indicate that in general, bees prefer more sweet drinks with less alcohol.
Abramson
Charles I
CI
Laboratory of Comparative Psychology and Behavioral Biology, Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, 215 North Murray, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA. charles@okstate.edu
Kandolf
Andreja
A
Sheridan
Audrey
A
Donohue
Darius
D
Bozic
Janko
J
Meyers
Julia E
JE
Benbassat
Danny
D
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D023421:Models, Animal; D013395:Sucrose; D013649:Taste
D013395:Sucrose