Biomedical subjects

N Hempel de Ibarra

Publications and source records attributed to N Hempel de Ibarra.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Colour-dependent target detection by bees.

The distance over which an object is detected by bees depends on the subtended visual angle and on spectral cues. At large angular subtenses detection is mediated only by chromatic cues. Achromatic targets, however, are also detectable. We investigated how chromatic and achromatic cues interact in detecting large-size targets. Coloured targets were used, with varied chromatic contrast that either did or did not present L-receptor contrast. Better detection correlated with higher chromatic contrast. Adding L-receptor contrast did not affect detection. It did allow the detection of achromatic targets, but at a lower level than most coloured ones, which indicates that the input from the achromatic system is negligible due to low sensitivity.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Discrimination of coloured patterns by honeybees through chromatic and achromatic cues.

We investigated pattern discrimination by worker honeybees, Apis mellifera, focusing on the roles of spectral cues and the angular size of patterns. Free-flying bees were trained to discriminate concentric patterns in a Y-maze. The rewarded pattern could be composed of either a cyan and a yellow colour, which presented both different chromatic and achromatic L-receptor contrast, or an orange and a blue colour, which presented different chromatic cues, but the same L-receptor contrast. The non-rewarded alternative was either a single-coloured disc with the colour of the central disc or the surrounding ring of the pattern, a checkerboard pattern with non-resolvable squares, the reversed pattern, or the elements of the training pattern (disc or ring alone). Bees resolved and learned both colour elements in the rewarded patterns and their spatial properties. When the patterns subtended large visual angles, this discrimination used chromatic cues only. Patterns with yellow or orange central discs were generalised toward the yellow and orange colours, respectively. When the patterns subtended a visual angle close to the detection limit and L-receptor contrast was mediating discrimination, pattern perception was reduced: bees perceived only the pattern element with higher contrast.

Animals↗

PubMed2001

Detection of coloured patterns by honeybees through chromatic and achromatic cues.

We asked whether the detection range of two-coloured centre-surround patterns differs from that of single-coloured targets. Honeybees Apis mellifera were trained to distinguish between the presence and absence of a single-coloured disc or a coloured pattern at different visual angles. The patterns presented colours which were either different in chromatic and L-receptor contrasts to the background, equal in chromatic but different in L-receptor contrasts, or vice-versa. Patterns with colours presenting only chromatic contrast were also tested. Patterns with higher L-receptor contrast in its outer than in its inner element were better detected than patterns with a reversed L-contrast distribution. However, both were detected worse than single-coloured discs of the respective colours. When the L-receptor contrast was the same for both elements, the detection range of the two-coloured and single-coloured targets was the same. Patterns whose colours lacked L-receptor contrast were detected just as single-coloured targets of the same colours. These results demonstrate that both chromatic and L-receptor contrasts mediate the detection of coloured patterns and that particular distributions of L-receptor contrast within a target are better detected than others. This finding is consistent with the intervention of neurons with centre-surround receptive fields in the detection of coloured patterns.

Animals↗