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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 31, 2026

Assessment of Mouse Judgment Bias through an Olfactory Digging Task

Assessment of Mouse Judgment Bias through an Olfactory Digging Task

Published on: March 4, 2022

Animal behaviour: emotion in invertebrates?

Michael Mendl¹, Elizabeth S Paul, Lars Chittka

¹Centre for Behavioural Biology, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Langford, BS40 5DU, UK. mike.mendl@bris.ac.uk

Current Biology : CB

|June 21, 2011

Summary

Bees experiencing simulated danger developed a pessimistic outlook, interpreting uncertain situations negatively. This cognitive bias mirrors anxiety and depression seen in humans and other animals.

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Area of Science:

Behavioral Ecology
Animal Cognition
Neuroethology

Background:

Anxiety and depression in vertebrates are linked to cognitive biases, where individuals interpret ambiguous stimuli negatively.
Understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of these biases can provide insights into emotional regulation across species.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether bees, as invertebrate models, exhibit a similar 'pessimistic' cognitive bias when exposed to a threat simulation.
To explore the potential for conserved mechanisms of emotional bias in insects.

Main Methods:

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) were subjected to a protocol of vigorous shaking to simulate a dangerous event.
Following the stressor, bees' responses to ambiguous olfactory cues were assessed in a two-choice task.
Behavioral choices were analyzed to determine if bees favored positive or negative odorants.

Main Results:

Bees exposed to the simulated dangerous event showed a significant bias towards interpreting ambiguous stimuli as negative.
This 'pessimistic' bias in bees mirrors findings in anxious or depressed vertebrates.
The results suggest a conserved nature of negative cognitive biases in response to threat.

Conclusions:

Bees can exhibit a pessimistic cognitive bias when anticipating negative outcomes after a stressful experience.
This finding supports the use of bees as a model organism for studying the evolution of emotional biases.
The study highlights potential conserved neural or genetic mechanisms underlying threat-related cognitive biases across diverse animal taxa.