Bees can add, subtract and even understand the concept of zero

A study has shown that brain size is not needed to develop abstract operations such as mathematics, by checking that bees can solve the addition and subtraction successfully report researchers from an Australian university.

The experience, according to the RMIT University of Melbourne release, opens a door in the field of artificial intelligence and Promises improvements in fast learning processes. The study, published in the magazine Progress of science, showed that "a large brain is not necessary to perform mathematical operations".

The relationship between the size and the power of the brain to develop abstract operations was at the center of the study, which showed that to understand mathematics, it was necessary to Sophisticated cognitive level. According to the experts, in this process, "the long-term memory interacts, that is to say the one that contains the rules of addition and subtraction, and in the short term, it is in charge of manipulating the figures of a specific operation ".

Many non-human species are able to understand the differences between quantities and apply them to solve everyday problems, but the resolution of arithmetic operations requires a significant level of processing. more complex brain, the scientists said.

The experiment, which taught them to recognize colors as symbolic representations of addition and subtraction, also showed that bees understood the concept of zero.

"The bees were dragged into a labyrinth and when they entered, they saw between one and five blue shapes (sum) or yellow (subtraction)," the specialists explained. EFE. Then they had to fly to an area where they decided to go left or right and – once the process was over – they received positive stimuli when they went to the right side, or negative when they flew to evil.

At the beginning of the experiment, the bees made decisions at random but, thanks to the stimuli, they finally learned this blue meant +1 and yellow -1, which allowed them to solve the problem.

According to scientists, bees are not the only non-human species capable of adding or subtracting, as other studies have shown that primates, birds and even spiders they have this ability: they know how many prey are trapped in their webs. About 80 years ago, science showed that crows can perform simple digital tasks.

A study published in the magazine Science in 2006, he also showed that the desert ants counted their efforts to find the nest when they returned. In the case of dogs, it seems that they can get an idea of ​​the numbers, although several studies have pointed out "do not use it".