Bumblebee visual learning: simple solutions for complex stimuli

Abstract Natural visual stimuli are typically complex. This presents animals with the challenge of learning the most informative aspects of these stimuli while not being confused by variable elements. How animals might do this remains unclear. Here, we tested bumblebees’ ability to learn multicomponent visual stimuli composed of a simple constant bar element and a grating element that was consistent in orientation but varied in width and number of gratings. Bees rapidly and successfully learned these compound stimuli. Tests revealed learning of the single bar element was more robust than learning of the grating element. Our study highlights how even small-brained invertebrates can rapidly learn multicomponent stimuli and prioritise the most consistent elements within them. We discuss how the learning phenomena of generalisation and overshadowing may be sufficient to explain these findings, and caution that complex cognitive concepts are not necessary to explain the learning of complex stimuli. Highlights Bumblebees are highly efficient in prioritising the most consistent elements in multicomponent visual stimuli. Bees trained on horizontal and vertical cues exhibit differences in how they memorise visual cues. Two phenomena can explain how bees preferentially select, memorise and use visual cues in this experiment: generalisation and overshadowing. Bumblebees as generalist foragers are well-suited to study visual cognition.