title: Within-subjects experiments on blocking and facilitation in honeybees (Apis mellifera).
abstract: It has long been suspected in the vertebrate literature, but demonstrated only recently in work with honeybees (Apis mellifera), that the different treatments of nontarget stimuli in conventional between-groups blocking experiments may give the appearance of blocking independently of experience with the target stimulus. The same difficulty does not arise in within-subjects experiments, and in a series of such experiments with odors and colors free-flying honeybees gave no evidence of blocking; separate reinforced presentations of one element of a reinforced compound failed to reduce responding to the second. There was, however, clear evidence of facilitation; separate nonreinforced presentations of one element of a reinforced compound increased responding to the second. The implications of the results for further work on compound conditioning in honeybees and other animals are considered.
authors.affiliation: Békésy Laboratory of Neurobiology, University of Hawaii, HI, USA. rblaser@sandiego.edu
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Blaser
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Couvillon
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Bitterman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D001245:Association Learning; D001516:Bees; D003118:Color Perception; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D009042:Motivation; D009812:Odorants; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology