INTRAMODAL COMPETITION FOR ATTENTION IN HONEYBEES

Honeybees were trained to discriminate between targets varying in colo r and length, one dimension relevant and the other irrelevant. Perform ance in acquisition was better when the pairs of targets presented on each trial differed only in the relevant dimension than when they diff ered in both, suggesting that difference in the irrelevant dimension p romoted attention to the irrelevant stimuli at the expense of attentio n to the relevant stimuli. Subsequent performance in an unreinforced c hoice test was also better when the targets differed only in the relev ant dimension rather than in both dimensions. The results are consider ed in relation to those of previous experiments with honeybees that po int to attentional effects in the conditioning of intramodal but not o f intermodal compounds.