Individual Learning Ability and Complex Odor Recognition in the Honey Bee, Apis mellifera L.

Individually restrained worker bees were trained to recognize complex odors in a conditioned proboscis extension assay. Three groups of bees were considered, based on the responses recorded during the experimental procedure: selective learners, nonselective learners, and nonlearners. For conditioning, three concentrations of two synthetic mixtures were used. The distribution of bees between groups was not significantly affected by the nature or by the concentration of the conditioning mixture. After conditioning, bees were tested with the individual compounds, and the responses were analyzed with respect to the three groups. Selective learners showed discriminative responses to a few key compounds, while nonselective learners responded to all the compounds, and nonlearners to none. These results showed that complex odor recognition is based on the recognition of key components and relies on the ability of bees to learn.