Stressed bees appear more prone to pessimistic decisions and show less excitement when receiving rewards. This intriguing conclusion comes from a study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, conducted by researchers at Newcastle University. Led by Vivek Nityananda, the team found that bees can display signs of depression, lowering their expectations of rewards when agitated or stressed, which may influence their role as pollinators.
In the study, bees were trained to determine whether a specific color signaled a positive or negative outcome. They learned to associate different colors with different rewards. After establishing these associations, the bees were divided into three groups, two of which were subjected to a simulated predator attack.
The results showed that, compared to the control group, the stressed bees were less likely to interpret ambiguous colors as signs of high rewards. Instead, they more frequently visited places associated with lower rewards. Essentially, the study suggests that after a stressful experience, the bees were less optimistic about receiving high rewards—behavior reminiscent of pessimism in humans.
“Our findings demonstrate that bees become more pessimistic after stress, as their behavior indicates they no longer expect rewards,” Nityananda explains. “Emotions are complex, and while we can’t say for certain whether bees experience emotions like humans do, their stress responses seem remarkably similar.” Olga Procenko, another author of the study, adds, “These results suggest that, like other animals, bees may experience emotional states after stress, leading them to anticipate negative outcomes.” The researchers note that further studies are needed to explore the broader implications of this behavior.
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