9404120 Brown The proposed project represents the first systematic investigation of working memory in an invertebrate. Working memory refers to a flexible, dynamic short-term memory system that simultaneously represents multiple, independent items of information. This memory has been extensively studied in a range of vertebrate animals. The working memory studied in animals is generally thought to correspond in important ways to memory systems used by humans in manipulating information during the performance of cognitive tasks. Honey bees gather nectar from discrete locations (flowers) that can be depleted during a single visit. Thus, it would be advantageous for bees to avoid revisits to recently depleted food sources. Recent data collected by the PI provide evidence that honey bees do so in a laboratory foraging task. Bees deplete sugar solution from a matrix of six locations, and tend not to revisit them within each foraging bout ( trial). The data demonstrate that this ability is based on working memory. This task therefore provides an experimental preparation in which the properties of working memory in honey bees can be investigated. This research project will begin the process of examining working memory in honey bees. The major goal will be to determine the similarities and differences of bee working memory and vertebrate working memory. This project will provide a much broader comparative context in which to understand the mechanisms of working memory performance that is currently available. Thus, insights into the fundamental mechanism of working memory in humans may result from the project.
