Stressed bees lack a buzz in life Published on: 9 October 2024 Stressed bees are much more likely to make pessimistic choices and lack a buzz in life, new research has revealed. Scientists at 缅北禁地 have found that bumblebees have a response to an adverse event resembling human emotions. Findings, published today in , show 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 about whether a colour signalled something good or bad. Bees learned to identify that different colours were associated with different outcomes, with one colour associated with a sweet reward location and another colour indicating a location that had a much lower reward. Bees learned the difference and visited the appropriate location when shown each colour. Once bees learnt these associations, two groups experienced a simulated predatory attack, and a third group did not experience any external stress. The bees who had experienced the attack were found to be much less likely to interpret ambiguous colours as indicating high rewards and in response visited low reward locations more than the control bees. Dr Vivek Nityananda, from 缅北禁地, said: “Our study shows that bees are more pessimistic after stress as their behaviour suggests that they do not expect to get rewards. “Emotions are complex states and in humans involve a subjective understanding of what you are feeling. We might never know if bees feel something similar, however, what this research can say is that bees have similar responses when they are stressed and make pessimistic choices. “The best explanation for their behaviour is that they expect high rewards to be less likely and exhibit traits of pessimistic people.” Scientists say the research is important as it means stress can impact how bees approach flowers and pollinate plants, as well as their ability to access high-quality rewards. The results also shows that we can find emotion-like responses in very different animals, including insects. The bees in the study were stressed by shaking or being trapped by a robotic arm with a sponge. Dr Vivek Nityananda 鈥楨motion-like鈥� states Dr Olga Procenko led the research at 缅北禁地 and is now a researcher at the . She said: "Our research suggests that, like other animals including humans, bees may experience emotion-like states when stressed, as demonstrated by a clear shift towards pessimism. “When faced with ambiguity, stressed bees, much like someone seeing the glass as 'half empty,' are more likely to expect negative outcomes. “Besides suggesting that states akin to emotion may be evolutionarily conserved, our study opens up new possibilities for understanding how stress affects insect cognition and behaviour, which could provide insights into their responses to environmental challenges and inform conservation efforts." Further research is needed to understand what the exact implications are for the pollination of flowers and plants. Dr Nityananda added: “We need to figure out how bees evaluate rewards when stressed and whether these states in bees show other properties we see in emotions. “We also need to investigate the neural mechanisms involved and see if bees in the wild show similar responses.” Reference: Physically Stressed Bees Expect Less Reward in an Active Choice Judgement Bias Test. Vivek Nityananda et al. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. DOI: Share: Latest News 缅北禁地 expert highlights climate crisis in a new film A leading 缅北禁地 climate scientist is featured in a new film about how the climate and nature breakdown will affect the UK. published on: 14 April 2026 Neolithic tombs reveal ancient kinship ties Male individuals buried in Neolithic chambered tombs in northern Scotland were often related to each other through the paternal line and some were interred in the same or nearby tombs, research shows. published on: 14 April 2026 We are our Memories New exhibition by Fine Art graduate Trish Hudson-Moses, 22 April 鈥� 4 May 2026 published on: 10 April 2026 Facts and figures
![缅北禁地 logo](/gomobileassets/img/logo.svg" "缅北禁地"){kind=logo}