Overview
- Queen Mary University of London researchers trained Bombus terrestris to associate short or long flashing light cues with either sugar or bitter quinine in a controlled maze.
- Stimulus positions were randomized across compartments so bees could not rely on spatial cues to guide their choices.
- After meeting learning criteria during training, bees continued to select the previously rewarded duration in unrewarded tests, indicating genuine duration discrimination.
- Experiments used contrasts such as 5-second versus 1-second flashes and 2.5-second versus 0.5-second blinks to test timing-based decisions.
- Authors Alex Davidson and Elisabetta Versace note the work opens comparative and AI-relevant avenues, as the timing computations enabling these choices remain unidentified (DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0440).