Old bees' memory fades too

November, 2010

New research shows that many old bees, like many older humans, have trouble replacing out-of-date knowledge with new memories.

I love cognitive studies on bees. The whole notion that those teeny-tiny brains are capable of the navigation and communication feats bees demonstrate is so wonderful. Now a new study finds that, just like us, aging bees find it hard to remember the location of a new home.

The study builds on early lab research that demonstrated that old bees find it harder to learn floral odors. In this new study, researchers trained bees to a new nest box while their former nest was closed off. Groups composed of mature and old bees were given several days in which to learn the new home location and to extinguish the bees' memory of their unusable former nest box. The new home was then disassembled, and groups of mixed-age bees were given three alternative nest locations to choose from (including the former nest box). Some old bees (those with symptoms of senescence) preferentially went to the former nest site, despite the experience that should have told them that it was unusable.

The findings demonstrate that memory problems and increasing inflexibility with age are not problems confined to mammals.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-10/asu-obm101910.php

Reference:

[1926] Münch, D., Baker N., Kreibich C. D., Bråten A. T., & Amdam G. V.
(2010). In the Laboratory and during Free-Flight: Old Honey Bees Reveal Learning and Extinction Deficits that Mirror Mammalian Functional Decline.
PLoS ONE. 5(10), e13504 - e13504.

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