A Simple Iterative Model Accurately Captures Complex Trapline Formation by Bumblebees Across Spatial Scales and Flower Arrangements

PMCID: PMC3591286This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Contextual Epistemic Logic

One of the highlights of recent informal epistemology is its growing theoretical emphasis upon various notions of context. The present paper addresses the connections between knowledge and context within a formal approach. To this end, a "contextual epistemic logic", CEL, is proposed, which consists of an extension of standard S5 epistemic modal logic with appropriate reduction axioms to deal with an extra contextual operator. We describe the axiomatics and supply both a Kripkean and a dialogical semantics for CEL. An illustration of how it may fruitfully be applied to informal epistemological matters is provided

Reasoning about Knowledge in Context

In this paper we propose a new semantics, based on the notion of a "contextual model", that makes it possible to express and compare — within a unique formal framework — different views on the roles of various notions of context in knowledge ascriptions. We use it to provide a logical analysis of such positions as skeptical and moderate invariantism, contextualism, and subject-sensitive invariantism. A dynamic formalism is also proposed that offers new insights into a classical skeptical puzzle

Bee positive: the importance of electroreception in pollinator cognitive ecology

International audienceThe global atmospheric circuit generates a permanent electric field between the Earth surface and outer atmosphere (Rycroft et al., 2000). The ground and plants conductively linked to it are negatively charged (Bowker and Crenshaw, 2007), whereas animals build up positive charge as they move in contact with air molecules (Jackson and McGonigle, 2005). Electric fields emanating from plants and pollinators, such as bees, are believed to promote pollination by enabling pollen grains to " jump " from flowers to pol-linators and vice versa (Corbet et al., 1982). Two recent studies reveal that bees not only detect these electric fields but also learn to discriminate them, indicating that electroreception should be seriously considered alongside vision and olfaction when studying bee behavior and ecology. Writing in Science, Clarke et al. (2013) demonstrated that bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) detect electric fields around plants and learn to use them to decide whether or not to visit flowers. Using a Faraday pail to measure electric fields generated by bees and plants, the team described how a bee visit temporarily modifies the electric charge of (Petunia) flowers, suggesting that floral electric properties could be used by future visitors to assess the reward value without necessarily needing to probe the flower. To explore this possibility, the authors used differential conditioning in which bees were trained to associate an electrically charged feeder (30 V) with a sucrose reward (CS+) and an uncharged feeder with an aversive quinine solution (CS−). After extensive training (50 trials), bees chose the rewarding feeder in around 80% of trials. Similar levels of performance were observed when bees were trained with two feeders carrying the same charge but different electric field patterns (homogeneous vs. bull's eye shape), indicating that these insects can learn both the magnitude and geometry of an electric field. Bees learned to perform even better in discrimination tasks if the two feeders differed both in color (shade of green) and their electric field pattern compared to if they differed only in color. Natural electric fields around flowers may therefore contribute to the multimodal sources of information that bees use to learn and memorize floral rewards, in conjunction with color, pattern, shape, texture

Quantifying nutritional trade-offs across multidimensional performance landscapes

We are grateful to Fleur Ponton, Russell Bonduriansky, and Emilie Snell-Rood as well as two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the manuscript.We are grateful to Ben Fanson, Kwang Lee, and Phil Taylor for sharing their data. This research was funded by a grant from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche to M.L. (ANR-16-CE02-0002-01).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Kin recognition and incest avoidance in a group-living insect

International audienceMate choice theories predict that animals evolved strategies to mate with optimally genetically dissimilar partners, providing fitness benefits. In group-living species, when adults do not disperse, assessment of relatedness between conspecifics can be a key factor for choosing mates. Here, we report for the first time, kin recognition abilities and their implication in mate choice in the gregarious cockroach, Blattella germanica (L.). Binary choice tests showed that females mated preferentially with nonsibling rather than with sibling males, thus avoiding incest. In addition, inbreeding induced an important decrease of their reproductive success. Contrary to what could be expected when females had the choice between a nonsibling strain member and a nonstrain member, they did not avoid mating with distantly related nonstrain members, and extreme outbreeding induced an increase of their reproductive success. Furthermore, our mate choice experiments disentangled the influences of familiarity from those of relatedness and evidenced that kin discrimination was based on genetic cues independently of familiarity. Phenotype matching was a plausible mechanism for kin recognition. Contrary to many insect species, body size was not a salient criterion for mate choice and had no consequences on reproductive success

Food, “Culture,” and Sociality in Drosophila

International audiencewith naïve " observers " with two fresh, flavored media (without quinine). In the critical test phase, demonstrators and observers were exposed separately to the two flavored media. Social transmission occurred if the oviposition choices of observers mirrored that of demonstrators. Using this methodology, Battesti et al. (2012) first showed that observer flies relied heavily on social information and acquired oviposition preferences from demonstrators , even if they had the opportunity to sample the two equally suitable media during the transmission phase, thus confirming previous observations in this species (Sarin and Dukas, 2009). The authors next investigated the mechanisms of social transmission and showed that social learning did not occur when observers were exposed to social cues only (freshly laid eggs and aggregation phero-mone) on one of the two media. Social transmission, however, always occurred when observers interacted directly with demonstrators, even if the media were unflavored. Although the precise mechanism of social learning remains an open A commentary on Spread of social information and dynamics of social transmission within Drosophila groups by Battesti Communication with and learning from others are key features of social life. We humans rely extensively on the advice of others before making important decisions. Social insects too, such as bees and ants, use social information to learn about foraging opportunities and engage in collective tasks (Dussutour and Simpson, 2009; Seeley et al., 2012). Growing interest into the learning abilities of small-brained animals has revealed that social learning in insects is more diverse and more common than previously thought (Leadbeater and Chittka, 2007), thus offering new opportunities for comparative analyses of the role of cognition in the regulation of social behavior across a rich spectrum of social forms. Recently, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster (Figure 1A) has emerged as a key species for studying social learning in simple insect groups (Mery et al., 2009; Sarin and Dukas, 2009). Flies aggregate on food resources, where they feed, reproduce, lay eggs, and glean information from each other. Writing in a recent issue of Current Biology, Battesti et al. (2012) present evidence that Drosophila females not only use social information to select oviposition sub-strates, but also that these socially acquired preferences can propagate and stabilize within groups, a phenomenon resembling cultural transmission of knowledge in vertebrates (Laland, 2008). The authors used a three-step experimental paradigm (Figure 1B). A group of flies was first trained to associate an aversive gustatory cue (quinine) with an artificial flavor (banana or strawberry) characterizing one of two standard ovipo-sition media (agar and sugar). These conditioned " demonstrators " were then caged question, presumably, it can be explained by relatively simple associative learning processes occurring during physical contacts between observer and demonstrator flies through the perception of the olfactory cues (banana or strawberry flavors) carried by the demonstrators. Such mechanism, for instance, underpins social transmission of food preferences in rats (Galef et al., 1985). In a third set of experiments, Battesti et al. (2012) have gone a step further into the understanding of how flies balance their use of social and personal information. By exposing observers to the two flavored media at the different phases of the experimental paradigm they demonstrated that the socially acquired preference vanished if observers were allowed to acquire personal information after the transmission phase. Considering the short lifespan of Drosophila (Lee et al., 2008), rapidly adopting the behavior of the majority may provide naïve flies with cues to choices that are locally adaptive and prevent costly trial and error. However, if information about resources is abundant and not costly t

Genetic bases of collective decisions in Drosophila

Dissertação de mestrado em Psicologia Clínica e da Saúde (Intervenções Cognitivo-Comportamentais nas Perturbações Psicológicas da Saúde), apresentada à Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação da Universidade de Coimbra.A compaixão pode ser definida como uma sensibilidade ao sofrimento com uma motivação genuína para o aliviar. Este construto tem sido associado a felicidade, bem-estar, satisfação com a vida e menos psicopatologia. Pesquisas têm demonstrado que o treino da compaixão ajuda a desenvolver e trabalhar com experiências internas de calor, segurança e tranquilização, através da compaixão e autocompaixão. De acordo com Gilbert (2010a) a capacidade de ser compassivo envolve várias competências e atributos, como sensibilidade, simpatia e empatia. Estes são elementos interconectados que formam o ciclo da compaixão, levando a uma mente compassiva. Neste sentido, o presente estudo pretende estudar as caraterísticas psicométricas para a população portuguesa da Escala de Atributos e Ações Compassivas (EAAC; Gilbert, 2014). Este instrumento baseia-se na avaliação de competências e atributos compassivos dirigidas ao próprio, aos outros ou dos outros, em situações de dificuldade, sendo neste sentido, constituída por três escalas, cada uma destas comportando duas secções/subescalas: Ações e Atributos. Para isto, recorreu-se a uma amostra de 764 sujeitos, constituída por estudantes e população geral (78.5% do género feminino e 21.2% do género masculino), na qual através de várias Análises Fatorias Exploratórias se testou a estrutura fatorial da escala. Os resultados estiveram de acordo com a estrutura fatorial encontrada na versão original, isto é, no geral as subescalas foram unifatoriais com exceção da escala de Autocompaixão, na qual se encontrou uma estrutura com dois fatores na subescala Atributos. Os resultados demonstraram, ainda, boa consistência interna para todas as subescalas, boa fidelidade temporal e validade convergente e divergente. Desta forma, a escala mostrou caraterísticas psicométricas adequadas e constitui-se como um instrumento útil para avaliação e investigação da compaixão.Compassion can be defined has a sensibility to the suffering with a genuine motivarion to relive that. This construct has been associated with happiness, wellbeing, life satisfaction and less psychopathology. Previous research showed that training compassion helps to develop inner experiences of warmth, safeness and soothing via compassion and self-compassion (Gilbert, 2009b). According to Gilbert (2010a), the hability to be compassionate involves a lot of skills and attributes such as sensibility, sympathy and empathy. These are interconnected elements that form the compassionate cycle, leading to a compassionate mind. The present study aims to assess and study the psychometric charateristics of the EAAC to the Portuguese population (EAAC, Gilbert, 2014). This instrument is based on evaluation of compassionate skills and attributes, directed to self, others or received from others when in difficult situations. They are composed by three scales, each containing two sections/subscales: Actions and Attributes. A sample of 764 subjects (78.5 % females and 21.2 % males) was used to test the factorial structure of the scales through several EFAs. The results were in line with the factorial structure found in the original version, that found a unifactorial structure, but with the exception of Self-compassion scale, that shows two factors on the Attributes section. The results demonstrate good reliability to all scales, good temporal fidelity and good convergent and divergent validity. Therefore, the scales have shown good psychometric characteristics and constitute a useful instrument to evaluate and investigate compassion