Figure 4.

Simultaneous mastering of two concepts in honeybees [7]. Bees learned to use two concepts simultaneously: ‘above/below’ (or right/left) and ‘difference’. (a) Bees were trained with sucrose reward in a Y-maze to choose the stimulus presenting two different patterns (group 1) or two different coloured discs (group 2) in an above/below (or right/left) relationship depending on the group of bees. Appearances and relative position of the patterns varied from trial to trial. (b) After 30 training trials, four transfer tests were performed. In transfer test 1, ‘correct choices’ indicate choice of the previously rewarded spatial relationship; in transfer tests 2 and 3 and 4, the term indicates choice of the stimulus with 2 different images. In transfer test 1, bees transferred their choice to unknown stimuli presenting the appropriate spatial relationship despite belonging to a different modality. Transfer tests 2–4 demonstrated that bees also learned that the stimuli had to present two different images. Bees used both rules simultaneously.