Parallel vector memories in the brain of a bee as foundation for flexible navigation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Patel, Rickesh N.; Roberts, Natalie S.; Kempenaers, Julian; Zadel, Ana; Heinze, Stanley
• 署名单位: Lund University; Lund University
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-11140
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2402509121
• 发表日期: 2024-07-23
• 关键词: path-integration; desert ants; honey-bees; insect; orientation; MODEL; calibration; MAPS

摘要

Insects rely on path integration (vector- based navigation) and landmark guidance to perform sophisticated navigational feats, rivaling those seen in mammals. Bees in particular exhibit complex navigation behaviors including creating optimal routes and novel shortcuts between locations, an ability historically indicative of the presence of a cognitive map. A mammalian cognitive map has been widely accepted. However, in insects, the existence of a centralized cognitive map is highly contentious. Using a controlled laboratory assay that condenses foraging behaviors to short distances in walking bumblebees, we reveal that vectors learned during path integration can be transferred to long- term memory, that multiple such vectors can be stored in parallel, and that these vectors can be recalled at a familiar location and used for homeward navigation. These findings demonstrate that bees meet the two fundamental requirements of a in long- term memory and need to be recalled from remembered locations. Thus, our data demonstrate that bees possess the foundational elements for a vector- based map. By utilizing this relatively simple strategy for spatial organization, insects may achieve high- level navigation behaviors seen in vertebrates with the limited number of neurons in their brains, circumventing the computational requirements associated with the cognitive maps of mammals.