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Decisions Made by Bee Swarms Similar to Those Made by Human Brains

by Kathy Jones on Dec 11 2011 12:30 PM

 Decisions Made by Bee Swarms Similar to Those Made by Human Brains
A new study has claimed that a swarm of honeybees follows the same decision making mechanism as the neurons in human brain.
In previous work, Cornell University biologist Thomas Seeley clarified how scout bees in a honeybee swarm perform "waggle dances" to prompt other scout bees to inspect a promising site that has been found.

In the new study, Seeley, a professor of neurobiology and behaviour, reports with five colleagues in the United States and the United Kingdom that scout bees also use inhibitory 'stop signals' - a short buzz delivered with a head butt to the dancer - to inhibit the waggle dances produced by scouts advertising competing sites.

The strength of the inhibition produced by each group of scouts is proportional to the group's size. This inhibitory signalling helps ensure that only one of the sites is chosen. This is especially important for reaching a decision when two sites are equally good, Seeley said.

Previous research has shown that bees use stop signals to warn nest-mates about such dangers as attacks at a food source. However, this is the first study to show the use of stop signals in house-hunting decisions.

Seeley asserted that such use of stop signals in decision making is 'analogous to how the nervous system works in complex brains'.

"The brain has similar cross inhibitory signalling between neurons in decision-making circuits," Seeley added.

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The study has been published in Science.

Source-ANI


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