Stressed bees are much more likely to make pessimistic choices and lack a buzz in life, new research has revealed.
Scientists at Newcastle University, UK, have found that bumblebees have a response to an adverse event resembling human emotions.
Findings published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B show that bees reduce their expectations of reward when they are agitated, and this could impact how they approach and pollinate flowers.
High and low rewards
Researchers trained bees to decide whether a color signaled something good or bad. Bees learned to identify that different colors were associated with different outcomes, with one color associated with a sweet reward location and another color indicating a location that had a much lower reward. Bees learned the difference and visited the appropriate location when shown each color.
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