Running paths to nowhere: repetition of routes shows how navigating ants modulate online the weights accorded to cues

摘要: Ants are expert navigators, keeping track of the vector to home as they travel, through path integration, and using terrestrial panoramas in view-based navigation. Although insect learning has been much studied, processes navigation have not received attention. Here, we investigate desert ants (Melophorus bagoti) effects repeating a well-travelled familiar route segment without success. We find that re-running homeward entering nest impacted subsequent trips. Over trips, showed more meandering from side scanning behaviour, which ant stopped turned, rotating range directions. In repeatedly their route, eventually gave up heading nestward direction defined by visual cues turned walk opposite direction. Further manipulations extent rate this degradation depend on (1) length accumulated food-to-nest direction, (2) specific experience repeated were forced re-run, (3) panorama: paths degraded an open panorama, compared with visually cluttered scene. The results show dynamically modulate weighting given memories, fits well recent models, suggesting mushroom bodies provide substrate for reinforcement views