Visual memory and the pedometer in navigating desert ants.

Desert ants rely on multiple systems in order to successfully navigate, including memorizing snapshots of their visual surroundings and path integration. During path integration, foragers record both their heading direction, through a sky compass, and the distance from the nest through a step-counter giving the forager an estimate of the nest’s location while they forage. Foragers traveling long distances in environments with many visual landmarks need to store multiple snapshot memories along their foraging route, and it is unknown how foragers separate these visual memories of different points along the route during learning. Here we examine if the pedometer affects visual memory acquisition of multiple visual memories through using artificial skylines erected along foraging routes. If the pedometer does act as a context cue aiding in panorama acquisition, snapshot memories acquired at sites separated by large differences in the forager’s pedometer should result in high navigational performance and memory. When these skylines are learned closer to each other along the route, memory and navigational performance should suffer.

Faculty Supervisor:

Marcia Spetch

Student:

Partner:

Université de Toulouse

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Alberta

Program: