Presentation Details
Cognitive performance and neuroanatomy in Polistes paper wasps

Seokin Yang, Juanita P Sanchez, Emily C Laub, Joseph Caldwell, Elizabeth A Tibbetts, .

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Abstract


A central question in neuroethology is the neural mechanisms that give rise to cognitive variation. Differences in cognitive ability are thought to originate from differences in neuroanatomical features of the brain, but surprisingly little is known about how intraspecific variation in cognitive performance is linked with neuroanatomy in wild animals. Here, we tested cognitive performance and neuroanatomy in wild Northern paper wasps, Polistes fuscatus. We measured cognitive performance of the wasps using a battery of four cognitive tests: face learning, color learning, reversal learning, and multiaccess box. Then, we analyzed the neuroanatomy of major brain regions, including optic lobe, antennal lobe, central complex, anterior optic tubercle, and mushroom bodies, using microcomputed tomography scans. This study is ongoing, but our results thus far suggest different cognitive domains are independently influenced by different neural mechanisms. We hope this study will provide a valuable starting point for understanding how the brain generates cognitive variation.

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