Categorization of food types enhances foraging performance of bumblebees

Abstract. The classification of food items into a selected set of categories can significantly enhance information processing by a foraging animal. The ability of bumblebees, Bombus flavifrons, to form simple categories of floral colours was tested. Bees recognized categories in a way that enhanced their ability to discriminate between rewarding and non-rewarding flowers. Bees also recognized novel members of learned categories. Both …