Presentation Details
Cognitive structure differs in wasps that form social groups

Joseph A Caldwell, Elizabeth A Tibbetts.

Univesity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Abstract


Many animals exhibit alternative behavioral strategies that are linked to differences in physiology, morphology, and behavior. Thus far, less is known about whether animals that pursue different behavioral strategies differ cognitively. Polistes fuscatus paper wasp queens (foundresses) can choose to build a nest alone or in multiple-foundress associations. We aimed to understand how wasps in these two groups differ in their cognition. Wild P. fuscatus foundresses were brought into the laboratory and tested on a mini-battery of four cognitive tests: individual face learning, color learning, reversal learning, and a multi-access box. Our results indicate that single-foundress and multiple-foundress wasps performed similarly across these four tests, but the relationship between tests differed. Single foundresses had a positive relationship between individual face learning and color learning, while wasps in multiple-foundress groups had a negative relationship. This result suggests that there are potential tradeoffs in cognitive structure associated with social group formation.

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