(Thursday, July 5, 9am)
Bees have a diverse instinctual repertoire that exceeds in complexity that of most vertebrates. This repertoire allows the social organisation of such feats as the construction of precisely hexagonal honeycombs, an exact climate control system inside their home, the provision of the hive with commodities that must be harvested over a large territory (nectar, pollen, resin, and water), as well as a symbolic communication system that allows them to inform hive members about the location of these commodities. However, the richness of bees’ instincts has traditionally been contrasted with the notion that bees’ small brains allow little behavioural flexibility and learning behaviour.
This view has been entirely overturned in recent years, when it was discovered that bees display abilities such as counting, attention, simple tool use, learning by observation and metacognition (knowing their own knowledge). Thus, some scholars now discuss possibilities such as consciousness in the bees. These observations raise the obvious question of how such capacities may be implemented at a neuronal level in the miniature brains of insects. We need to understand the neural circuits, not just the size of brain regions, which underlie these feats.
Neural network analyses show that cognitive features found in insects, such as numerosity, attention and categorisation-like processes, may require only very limited neuron numbers. Using computational models of the bees' visual system, we explore whether seemingly advanced cognitive capacities might 'pop out' of the properties of relatively basic neural processes in the insect brain’s visual processing area, and their connection with the mushroom bodies, which are higher order learning centres in the brains of insects.
Chittka, L. (2017). Bee cognition. Current Biology, 27(19), R1049-R1053.
Loukola, O. J., Perry, C. J., Coscos, L., & Chittka, L. (2017). Bumblebees show cognitive flexibility by improving on an observed complex behavior. Science, 355(6327), 833-836.
Alem, S., Perry, C. J., Zhu, X., Loukola, O. J., Ingraham, T., Søvik, E., & Chittka, L. (2016). Associative mechanisms allow for social learning and cultural transmission of string pulling in an insect. PLoS Biology, 14(10), e1002564.
Fiona Presly and Lars Chittka
The fact that an observer bee choose to pick the nearest ball to get a reward, even if it isn’t the same ball that the tutor bee used or even if the ball is black rather than yellow seems to me an indicatior that they have some kind of conceptual level representation. However you seem not ready to assume that they can appeal to this kind of representation. What should be needed to test and demonstrate it acording to you?
ReplyDeleteHey Etienne!
DeleteI would tend to agree with you here, and it seems like an associative learning (of quite a sophisticated task for such small beings) made between the ball being at the center and obtaining a reward would imply some kind of conceptual level representation. But does having an access to its memory library, an idea of « what it wants » really involves concepts? On one hand it doesn’t strictly imitates the demonstrator, otherwise it would pick the same ball (which it doesn’t). It really is the ball being at the center that it seems to recognize and associate with reward. The variable therefore are a)position b)object (it would’ve been interesting to put objects of different shape near the middle) c)outcome/reward (it could be interesting to associate different reward to each balls) d) movment of the ball. In short, I also find difficult to synthesize all those variable without the presence of some kind of conceptual representation
My point wasn't to advocate that accessing memory or having an idea of "what it wants" involves conceptual thinking... So I'm not sure what do you mean by that... What I find very interesting and surprising, and does imply to me conceptual thinking, is that the bee seem to be able to split "yellow-ball". That way, she dissociate "ball" and "yellow" in some fashion that allow her to "understand" that it is not "yellow-ball" in the middle of the maze that is rewarded, but that it could just be "ball" in the middle of the maze, whatever if is "yellow" or "black", even if she never saw before a "black-ball", and were always rewarded to put "yellow-ball" in the middle of the maze.
DeleteThanks you very much for the fascinating talk!
ReplyDeleteI understand that a lot of attention is on the social honey bee, but those are not really the majority of the bee species. Is there a significant difference in the brains of social bees and the solitary ones ? In other words : has the social behavior put extra pressure on the bee's brain or is it using circuitry that already exists ?
Thank you!
In the ball rolling task, did you try tricking the bee that was observing the performing bee earlier (the one that has learned by observation)? By that I mean have you tried looking whehter the bee would have any sort of expectation reaction. Sticking the closest ball to the platform, would the bee keep trying again and again on that ball or would the bee quickly switch to another ball, would she show any emotional reaction, etc. I asked the question in person, so already have the answer.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your interesting talk. During the presentation, when talking about the judgment bias and the go – no go task, you said that the sucrose reward attenuates response to simulated predator attacks and that the return to normal feed was better if they received sucrose before. I’m not sure to understand exactly what is the mechanism for that. I mean, is it the fact to give a reward before that is somehow bringing the bee to be more calm or is it the fact that it is activating (or inhibiting) a specific area of its brain? In brief, what is the explanation for this modified behaviour related to the predator with a sucrose reward surprise?
ReplyDeleteSince there was a question on bee protection and conservation I wanted to share some thoughts. There have been multiple campaigns on protecting in particular honey producing bees as they are pollinators of our crops. This article however highlights some other important fact: "Domesticated honeybees actually contribute to wild bee declines through resource competition and spread of disease, with so-called environmental initiatives promoting honeybee-keeping in cities or, worse, protected areas far from agriculture, only likely to exacerbate the loss of wild pollinators."
ReplyDeleteAlso interesting information because there are many people who justify their consumption of products from honeybees with thinking this is humane, sustainable and environmentally friendly. Check this article as well as the others below on the ways domesticated honeybees are treated, even when kept by hobby beekeepers.
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/think-of-honeybees-as-livestock-not-wildlife-argue-experts
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6374/392
https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/honey-industry
This looks like a great project: https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/achieving-our-vision/
Selon Lars Chittka, il n’est pas clair que les abeilles ont des perceptions que l’on peut qualifier de “conscientes”. Néanmoins, elles sont capables de beaucoup de choses qui semblent aller vers cette conclusion. En effet, elles semblent capables d’avoir quelque chose ressemblant à des émotions, elles sont capables d’utiliser des outils, elles sont capables d’apprentissage social et de communication, etc. Aussi, dans la tâche de “boule roulante”, il semble bien que les abeilles aient été “conscientes” de leurs propres actions pour leur prise de décision. Il me semble que tous ces exemples soient de bons indices indiquant une certaine “conscience”, un certain “ressenti” chez les abeilles, étant donné, encore une fois ici, le problème des autres esprits dont il est difficile de s’échapper.
ReplyDeleteLe fait que les abeilles soient capable de faire des choix, prendre des décisions, apprendre par l'association et également choisir différemment de leur tuteur nous en dit long sur les capacités cognitives de celles-ci. De plus, elles peuvent apprendre en regardant le comportement des autres et ont un système de communication développé. Je trouve absurde que l'on soit encore en train de se demander si les abeilles ressentent. Elles répondent aux stimulis, il ne fait presqu'aucun doute pour moi que les abeilles sont des êtres sentients, vu la conférence de M. Lars Chittka.
ReplyDelete
DeleteJe suis du même avis que toi - il est en effet absurde de se poser la question ‘’est-ce que les abeilles ressentent ?’’, mais pas pour les mêmes raisons.
Comme tu l’as probablement entendu plusieurs fois au cours de l’École d’Été, lorsqu’on considère un comportement X ou une capacité Y, il peut être utile de s’imaginer si ces mêmes capacités ou comportements seraient reproductibles chez un robot. Si c’est possible, c’est que la capacité n’est pas un marqueur de sentience (de la capacité à ressentir).
La plupart des critères que tu as proposées peuvent être retrouvés chez les bactéries ou les plantes : devraient-ont en conclure qu’elles ressentent ? Par exemple, tu mentionnes que les abeilles répondent aux stimuli. Voici la populaire vidéo d’un robot pouvant ouvrir une porte en utilisant l’input visuel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUyU3lKzoio
Ressent-il puisqu’il réagit aux stimuli ?
Je ne suis pas ‘’killjoy’’ – il ne fait aucun doute pour moi que les abeilles, tout comme l’entièreté des arthropodes, soient capables de ressentir. Il faut cependant chercher ailleurs que dans leur umwelt, leurs capacités cognitives ou les analogues cérébraux pour répondre au problème des autres-esprits, qui est de réduire notre incertitude sur la présence ou l’absence de ressenti chez les autres espèces (ils peuvent cependant nous aider à faire des inférences sur la saveur du ressenti).
Comme je l’ai proposé plus haut, je ne pense pas que les comportements et/ou capacités, qui ont été proposées comme des ‘’marqueurs’’ du ressenti jusqu’à présent dans la littérature, n’ont réduit notre incertitude face au problème des autres-esprits.
Pire encore, l'argument du robot (que j'ai moi-même tendance à utiliser, car c'est un argument attrayant je doit t'admettre) deviendra de plus en plus difficile à soutenir au fur et à mesure qu'on s'approchera du fameux robot qui passe le test de Turing ("T3" pour les intimes) ...
DeleteÇa sera alors un sacré casse-tête, car en interagissant avec, on sera naturellement portés à croire qu'il a un ressenti (comme on fait avec les autres humains et les chiens et les cochons, etc.), puisqu'il donnera tous les indices qu'il en a un. Le problème des autres esprits nous empêchera d'aller vérifier. On sera dans de beaux draps et il ne nous restera qu'à blâmer l'oncle Alan pour ce fiasco... :)
What a wonderful presentation by Mr Lars Chittka. I would never have suspected that bees could have such cognitive skills. It is certain that Mr Chittka offers us knowledge and a look at bees that will allow us to have an undoubtedly richer and more complex perception of this specie. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteAmazing presentation about a species I didn't previously know very much about! This introduction to the bees' cognition and culture has been intriguing for me and I will surely search to have more informations about this topic. Here is some interesting complementary links:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Randolf_Menzel/publication/7077085_Spatial_memory_navigation_and_dance_behavior_in_Apis_mellifera/links/00463523963115fcd4000000/Spatial-memory-navigation-and-dance-behavior-in-Apis-mellifera.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC549458/ (Honey bees navigate according to a map-like spatial memory)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690634/
(Two spatial memories for honeybee navigation)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347285800099
(Nocturnal orientation by another species of bees, the Asian honey bee Apis dorsata)
Thank you for the talk, it was very interesting. Recent research suggest that bees possess, on top of vision, olfaction and touch, another sensory modality to help them navigate space and find the best flowers for pollen. Bees are thought to be able to detect the electrostatic field between them and the flower to help in pollination (Clarke, Morley, & Robert, 2017). In your opinion, is the ability to feel electrostatic field just another sensory modality or the feeling arising from this stimulus could be viewed as an indicator of sentience?
ReplyDeleteLes abeilles ont définitivement développé des capacités cognitives remarquables pour s’adapter à leur environnement. Elles doivent constamment naviguer dans des grands espaces et repérer des fleurs pour en prélever le sucre. Elles peuvent donc discriminer différents stimuli visuelles et semblent choisir activement certaines fleurs occasionnellement pour éviter des prédateurs. Cependant, elles ont des biais perceptuels concernant les couleurs et ratent certaines discriminations visuelles.
ReplyDeletePendant la conférence, il a été mentionné que les abeilles pouvaient peut-être utiliser la métacognition. Elles pourraient donc «penser à ce qu’elles pensent», évaluer leur incertitude et éviter des essais difficiles qu’elles pourraient échouer. Cependant, il a aussi été mentionné qu’ils y avaient des corrélations entre des modèles mathématiques et le comportement des abeilles, ce qui suggère des mécanismes d’apprentissages de «bas niveau» (historique de conditionnement associatif). Il faudrait donc exclure les mécanismes d’apprentissages simples avant de supposer que les abeilles sont capables de métacognition.
Finalement, les abeilles semblent capables d’apprentissage social. Notamment, lorsqu’une abeille voit une autre abeille (démonstrateur) exécuter une tâche, elle peut la reproduire. Cependant, elles ne semblent pas comprendre les règles plus complexes de la tâche. Dans la vidéo montrée, l’abeille devait pousser la balle la plus éloigné de la cible, comme le faisait le démonstrateur. Pourtant, elle poussait la balle la plus proche de la cible. Il serait intéressant de savoir si les abeilles peuvent comprendre l’intention derrière le mouvement ou si elle ne fait que reproduire des mouvements «mécaniques».
Belief is a representation of a propositional content. In this sense, animals can have beliefs because they have a language of thought. If we accept this definition of belief, animals may have beliefs, but limited in relation to humans. Because everything depends on their strength and attitude to make representations. Some researchers make a strict connection between concepts, beliefs and language. According to them, to have a belief, one must first know the concept of belief. To know the concept of belief, it must be understood that the belief can be true or false. To know the truth, you have to be able to talk to others, talk. And to discuss, you have to have a language.
ReplyDeleteWith all that we already know about bees, it is obvious that they have beliefs. According to a simplified phylogenetic classification, the bees belong to the insect species. My first question is: do all insects have the same level of belief? And my second question is: can we conclude that the higher up in this classification, the animals are more "believers"? (Stronger belief)
Pourrait-on dire que l'instinct et le «inné» sont équivalent?
ReplyDeleteLes abeilles peuvent apprendre. Est-ce que tout organisme possédant un système neuronal est en mesure d'apprendre (a une mémoire) ou y a-t-il des organismes sans mémoire?