Wasps are much smarter than we thought.
A new study has found that they are capable of using a form of logical reasoning that was believed to be a key human trait until very recently. Scientists have now established that certain vertebrate animals such as birds and monkeys possess this ability, known as transitive inference (TI) but they have not been able to prove whether or not invertebrate animals are capable of the same deductive powers- until now.
Elizabeth Tibbetts, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Michigan, has found evidence that the paper wasp may be capable of a logical reasoning used to make inferences. For example: If A is greater than B, and B is greater than C, then A is greater than C.
There has only been one other published study that looked at TI in invertebrates. In this analysis, researchers turned to the honeybee but after conducting a series of tests they found that the insects were just not up to the task. Experts suggested this may have to do with the small nervous system of honeybees that may place constraints upon the honeybees' cognitive behavior, ultimately preventing them from conducting TI.
However, in a paper published in the journal Biology Letters, Tibbetts found that this may not be the case. The nervous system found in paper wasps is roughly the same size as those in honeybees yet they demonstrate a complex social behavior that is not seen in honeybee colonies. Knowing this, Tibbetts set out to see if these wasps were capable of the type of logical reasoning that the bees had failed to demonstrate.
In the laboratory, Tibbetts and her colleagues trained wasps to discriminate between pairs of colors by associating one color with a mild electric shock. Tibbetts said the wasps were able to quickly and accurately learn the premise pairs. Next, researchers presented paired colors that were unfamiliar to the wasps to choose between. The wasps were able to choose between novel pairs by organizing the information into an implicit hierarchy and applying transitive inference to the decision-making process.
"I thought wasps might get confused, just like bees," said Tibbetts. "But they had no trouble figuring out that a particular color was safe in some situations and not safe in other situations."
The Paper wasps may have been able to succeed where the bees failed thanks to a different type of cognitive ability that allows them to display different social behaviors. Tibbetts noted that the wasps appeared to use known relationships to make inferences about unknown relationships.
"Our findings suggest that the capacity for complex behavior may be shaped by the social environment in which behaviors are beneficial, rather than being strictly limited by brain size," she said.
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