PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Associative learning is of great importance to animals, as it enhances their ability to navigate, forage, evade predation and improve fitness. Even though associative learning abilities of Hymenopterans have been explored, many of these studies offered food as appetitive reinforcement. In the current study, we focus on tactile and visual cue learning in an ant Diacamma indicum using a Y-maze setup with pupa as a positive reinforcement. Using pupa as a reward resulted in a significantly higher proportion of ants completing the training in a shorter time as compared to using food as reinforcement. Ants spent significantly more time in the conditioned arm for both visual cues (white dots or black dots) and tactile cues (rough or smooth surfaces) presented on the floor when associated with pupa, thus showing that they were capable of associative learning. On encountering a conflict between visual and tactile cues during the test, ants chose to spend significantly more time on the arm with the tactile cues indicating that they had made a stronger association between pupa and the tactile cue as compared to the visual cue during training. Using pupa as an ecologically relevant reward, we show that these solitary foraging ants living in small colonies are capable of visual and tactile associative learning and are likely to learn tactile cues over visual cues in association with pupa.
摘要：
联想学习对动物来说非常重要,因为它增强了他们的导航能力，牧草,逃避捕食和提高健身。尽管膜翅目动物的联想学习能力已经被探索，其中许多研究提供食物作为食欲增强。在目前的研究中,我们专注于在蚂蚁Diacammaindicum中进行触觉和视觉提示学习，使用Y迷宫设置，以the为正增强。与使用食物作为补强相比，使用the作为奖励可以在更短的时间内完成训练的蚂蚁比例明显更高。当与the相关时，蚂蚁在条件手臂上花费了更多的时间，以获得在地板上呈现的视觉提示（白点或黑点）和触觉提示（粗糙或光滑的表面）。从而表明他们有能力进行联想学习。在测试过程中遇到视觉和触觉提示之间的冲突时，蚂蚁选择在手臂上花费更多的时间，触觉提示表明，与训练期间的视觉提示相比，它们在the和触觉提示之间建立了更强的关联。利用蛹作为生态相关的奖励，我们表明，这些生活在小殖民地中的孤独觅食蚂蚁能够进行视觉和触觉联想学习，并且可能会学习触觉线索，而不是与the相关的视觉线索。
