Scientists try to determine if bees display pessimism after being highly agitated. Of course, they could have saved a bunch of time and money if they'd just asked some beekeepers. We could have told them that, "Yes, bees are quite moody, just like people. They don't like to be disturbed while working, traveling agitates them, and even something as mundane as the weather can put them in a foul mood."
Even more fittingly, it's the female of the species that is more prone towards wild fits of rage. The males just kind of hangout in nonchalant groups, trying to stay out of the way of the females.
"Here, we ask whether honeybees display a pessimistic cognitive bias when they are subjected to an anxiety-like state induced by vigorous shaking designed to simulate a predatory attack. We show for the first time that agitated bees are more likely to classify ambiguous stimuli as predicting punishment. Shaken bees also have lower levels of hemolymph dopamine, octopamine, and serotonin. In demonstrating state-dependent modulation of categorization in bees, and thereby a cognitive component of emotion, we show that the bees' response to a negatively valenced event has more in common with that of vertebrates than previously thought. This finding reinforces the use of cognitive bias as a measure of negative emotional states across species and suggests that honeybees could be regarded as exhibiting emotions."
Agitated Honeybees Exhibit Pessimistic Cognitive Biases
Current Biology, Volume 21, Issue 12, 1070-1073, 02 June 2011
Melissa Bateson, Suzanne Desire, Sarah E. Gartside, Geraldine A. Wright
Even more fittingly, it's the female of the species that is more prone towards wild fits of rage. The males just kind of hangout in nonchalant groups, trying to stay out of the way of the females.
"Here, we ask whether honeybees display a pessimistic cognitive bias when they are subjected to an anxiety-like state induced by vigorous shaking designed to simulate a predatory attack. We show for the first time that agitated bees are more likely to classify ambiguous stimuli as predicting punishment. Shaken bees also have lower levels of hemolymph dopamine, octopamine, and serotonin. In demonstrating state-dependent modulation of categorization in bees, and thereby a cognitive component of emotion, we show that the bees' response to a negatively valenced event has more in common with that of vertebrates than previously thought. This finding reinforces the use of cognitive bias as a measure of negative emotional states across species and suggests that honeybees could be regarded as exhibiting emotions."
Agitated Honeybees Exhibit Pessimistic Cognitive Biases
Current Biology, Volume 21, Issue 12, 1070-1073, 02 June 2011
Melissa Bateson, Suzanne Desire, Sarah E. Gartside, Geraldine A. Wright
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