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J Exp Biol

Title:		The olfactory memory of the honeybee Apis mellifera. II. Blocking between odorants in binary mixtures
Author(s):		Smith BH; Cobey S;
Address:		"Department of Entomology, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210-1220"
Journal Title:		J Exp Biol
Year:		1994
Volume:		195
Issue:
Page Number:		91 - 108
DOI:		10.1242/jeb.195.1.91
ISSN/ISBN:		0022-0949 (Print) 0022-0949 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Proboscis extension conditioning of honeybee workers was used to study the processing of odorants when bees were conditioned to binary mixtures. Responses to a set of pure floral odors and pheromones after conditioning have already been described. When bees are conditioned to certain mixtures of odorants, the response to both components is equal to that when they are tested alone. However, mixtures of an aliphatic aldehyde and an alcohol elicit asymmetric response patterns; that is, the response to the aldehyde is much stronger than that to the alcohol. A bee's response to the alcohol after it had been trained in an aldehyde background is significantly lower than when the bee is trained to respond to the same alcohol in the background of another odorant. Such response patterns are not necessarily caused by a behavioral decrement resulting from a compound-unique perceptual effect produced by the mixture. Furthermore, studies of blocking show that behavioral acquisition in response to one component can be hindered or blocked by pretraining with the other component. These results suggest that honeybees can perceive the individual components of some binary mixtures. The similarities in neural processing in olfactory systems of vertebrates and invertebrates mean that such studies could elucidate behavioral mechanisms of olfaction in a wide phylogenetic spectrum of animals"
Keywords:		"Alcohols/pharmacology Aldehydes/pharmacology Animals Bees/*physiology Conditioning, Psychological/drug effects/physiology Learning/physiology Memory/*physiology *Odorants Olfactory Pathways/*physiology Sense Organs/physiology Smell/physiology Stimulation, ;"
Notes:		"MedlineSmith, B H Cobey, S eng 1 R29MH47984/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. England 1994/10/01 J Exp Biol. 1994 Oct; 195:91-108. doi: 10.1242/jeb.195.1.91"