TRANSFER AND INTERFERENCE IN BUMBLEBEE LEARNING

The types of interactions between learning events can significantly affect the value of learning. Learning one task may enhance the learning of a subsequent task (transfer), but the learning of a new task may also interfere with the memory of a previously learned task. Bumblebees, Bombus occidentalis, were tested for the magnitudes of transfer and interference between two related learning events. On the one hand, bees showed no evidence for positive transfer from one learning task to another. On the other hand, bees showed an initial reduction in performance after switching from task 2 back to task 1. However, after being trained to switch back and forth between two tasks, bees no longer showed an initial reduction in performance after switching. The results suggest first, that bees cannot generalize from one learning incident to another in the manner required in this experiment, and second, that bees can learn to alternate between certain distinct tasks with no reduction in performance.