INTRAMODAL BLOCKING IN HONEYBEES

Foraging honeybees were trained in a concurrent blocking design with a compound stimulus (AX) reinforced and one of its components (A) eithe r reinforced for a blocking group or nonreinforced for a control group . In Experiment 1, a compound of two colors was used; in Experiment 2, a compound of two odors was used; in Experiment 3, a color-position c ompound, with position defined in terms of proximity to a distinctive visual landmark, was used; and, in Experiment 4, an odor-position comp ound was used. In each of the first three experiments, the blocking gr oup responded less than did the control group in a subsequent test wit h X; in the fourth experiment, the two groups did not differ. The resu lts are in accord with expectations based on those of previous experim ents with honeybees in which the independence assumption was found to hold for intermodal compounds but not for intramodal compounds.