Transitive Inference in Polistes Paper Wasps

Overview

Journal Biol Lett

Specialty Biology

Date 2019 May 9

PMID 31064309

Citations 23

Authors

Elizabeth A Tibbetts

Jorge Agudelo

Sohini Pandit

Jessica Riojas

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Transitive inference (TI) is a form of logical reasoning that involves using known relationships to infer unknown relationships (A > B; B > C; then A > C). TI has been found in a wide range of vertebrates but not in insects. Here, we test whether Polistes dominula and Polistes metricus paper wasps can solve a TI problem. Wasps were trained to discriminate between five elements in series (AB-, BC-, CD-, DE-), then tested on novel, untrained pairs (B versus D). Consistent with TI, wasps chose B more frequently than D. Wasps organized the trained stimuli into an implicit hierarchy and used TI to choose between untrained pairs. Species that form social hierarchies like Polistes may be predisposed to spontaneously organize information along a common underlying dimension. This work contributes to a growing body of evidence that the miniature nervous system of insects does not limit sophisticated behaviours.

Citing Articles

Honey bees rely on associative stimulus strength after training on an olfactory transitive inference task.

Giurfa M, Lee S, Macri C Front Psychol. 2025; 15():1529460.

PMID: 39839923 PMC: 11747915. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1529460.

Paper wasps: A model clade for social cognition.

Jernigan C, Mammen L, Brown R, Sheehan M Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2024; 89:102928.

PMID: 39454467 PMC: 11611606. DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2024.102928.

Transitive inference in a clinical childhood sample with a focus on autism spectrum disorder.

Kao T, Michaelcheck C, Ferrera V, Terrace H, Jensen G Autism Res. 2024; 17(11):2355-2369.

PMID: 39223913 PMC: 11568932. DOI: 10.1002/aur.3225.

Native Polistes wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) hold potential as biocontrol agents for lepidopteran pests of Brassica.

Jandt J, McCall E, Toth A J Econ Entomol. 2024; 117(5):1753-1759.

PMID: 39047177 PMC: 11473041. DOI: 10.1093/jee/toae146.

A mathematical theory of relational generalization in transitive inference.

Lippl S, Kay K, Jensen G, Ferrera V, Abbott L Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024; 121(28):e2314511121.

PMID: 38968113 PMC: 11252811. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2314511121.

References

Briscoe A, Chittka L . The evolution of color vision in insects. Annu Rev Entomol. 2000; 46:471-510. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ento.46.1.471. View

Chittka L, Niven J . Are bigger brains better?. Curr Biol. 2009; 19(21):R995-R1008. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.08.023. View

MacLean E, Merritt D, Brannon E . Social Complexity Predicts Transitive Reasoning in Prosimian Primates. Anim Behav. 2009; 76(2):479-486. PMC: 2598410. DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.01.025. View

ODonnell S, Clifford M, DeLeon S, Papa C, Zahedi N, Bulova S . Brain size and visual environment predict species differences in paper wasp sensory processing brain regions (hymenoptera: vespidae, polistinae). Brain Behav Evol. 2013; 82(3):177-84. DOI: 10.1159/000354968. View

Dukas R . Evolutionary biology of insect learning. Annu Rev Entomol. 2007; 53:145-60. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ento.53.103106.093343. View

Martin-Malivel J, Okada K . Human and chimpanzee face recognition in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): role of exposure and impact on categorical perception. Behav Neurosci. 2007; 121(6):1145-55. DOI: 10.1037/0735-7044.121.6.1145. View

Menzel R . The honeybee as a model for understanding the basis of cognition. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2012; 13(11):758-68. DOI: 10.1038/nrn3357. View

Olkowicz S, Kocourek M, Lucan R, Portes M, Fitch W, Herculano-Houzel S . Birds have primate-like numbers of neurons in the forebrain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016; 113(26):7255-60. PMC: 4932926. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1517131113. View

Azevedo F, Carvalho L, Grinberg L, Farfel J, Ferretti R, Leite R . Equal numbers of neuronal and nonneuronal cells make the human brain an isometrically scaled-up primate brain. J Comp Neurol. 2009; 513(5):532-41. DOI: 10.1002/cne.21974. View

10.

Sheehan M, Botero C, Hendry T, Sedio B, Jandt J, Weiner S . Different axes of environmental variation explain the presence vs. extent of cooperative nest founding associations in Polistes paper wasps. Ecol Lett. 2015; 18(10):1057-67. PMC: 4564336. DOI: 10.1111/ele.12488. View

11.

Vasconcelos M . Transitive inference in non-human animals: an empirical and theoretical analysis. Behav Processes. 2008; 78(3):313-34. DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2008.02.017. View

12.

Moses S, Villate C, Ryan J . An investigation of learning strategy supporting transitive inference performance in humans compared to other species. Neuropsychologia. 2006; 44(8):1370-87. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.01.004. View

13.

Benard J, Giurfa M . A test of transitive inferences in free-flying honeybees: unsuccessful performance due to memory constraints. Learn Mem. 2004; 11(3):328-36. PMC: 419736. DOI: 10.1101/lm.72204. View

14.

Lihoreau M, Latty T, Chittka L . An exploration of the social brain hypothesis in insects. Front Physiol. 2012; 3:442. PMC: 3506958. DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2012.00442. View

15.

Lazareva O, Wasserman E . Effect of stimulus orderability and reinforcement history on transitive responding in pigeons. Behav Processes. 2006; 72(2):161-72. DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2006.01.008. View

16.

Paz-Y-Mino C G, Bond A, Kamil A, Balda R . Pinyon jays use transitive inference to predict social dominance. Nature. 2004; 430(7001):778-81. DOI: 10.1038/nature02723. View

17.

Giurfa M . Behavioral and neural analysis of associative learning in the honeybee: a taste from the magic well. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2007; 193(8):801-24. DOI: 10.1007/s00359-007-0235-9. View