Social reinforcement delays in free-flying honey bees (Apis mellifera L.).
Free-flying honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) reactions were observed when presented with varying schedules of post-reinforcement delays of 0 s, 300 s, or 600 s. We measured inter-visit-interval, response length, inter-response-time, and response rate. Honey bees exposed to these post-reinforcement delay intervals exhibit one of several patterns compared to groups not encountering delays, and had longer inter-visit-intervals. We observed no group differences in inter-response time. Honey bees with higher response rates tended to not finish the experiment. The removal of the delay intervals increased response rates for those subjects that completed the trials.
Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States of America.
David Philip Arthur
DP
Craig
James W
JW
Grice
Chris A
CA
Varnon
B
B
Gibson
Michel B C
MB
Sokolowski
Charles I
CI
Abramson
D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*