Award details

Visual sequence learning and image recognition in insect navigation

Reference	S10890
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Thomas Collett
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	University of Sussex
Department	Biology and Environmental Science
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	164,171
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/09/1999
End date	01/01/2004
Duration	52 months

Abstract

Ants and bees naturally learn long visuo-motor sequences while travelling fixed routes between their nest and foraging sites. Studies on ants learning visual or visuo-motor sequences in mazes will investigate: (1) a possible new behavioural mechanism for the efficient and rapid acquisition of routes in which a drop in the value of the path-integration vector provides a reinforcement signal to guide learning along the whole route; (2) the manner in which ants remember and link a sequence of visual patterns, and (3) whether associative bidirectional links between components of a sequence allow flexible switching between alternative routes. Insects use stored views to locate a nest or foraging site. Studies on bumblebees using a new technique in which patterns are perturbed during the bees approach to a feeder will explore the way in which views are encoded and recognised.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Animal Sciences (AS)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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