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Modelling Multi-Modal Learning in a Hawkmoth

Anna Balkenius, Almut Kelber and Christian Balkenius

Simulation of Adaptive Behavior 2006 (SAB 2006)
Rome, Italy, 25-29 September 2006


Summary

Modelling Multi-Modal Learning in a Hawkmoth Anna Balkenius (1,2), Almut Kelber (2), and Christian Balkenius (3)

1 Chemical Ecology, SLU Alnarp, Box 44, 230 53 Alnarp, Sweden

2 Vision Group, Department of Cell and Organism Biology, Lund University, Helgonav?agen 3, 223 62 Lund, Sweden anna.balkenius@cob.lu.se almut.kelber@cob.lu.se

3 Lund University Cognitive Science, Kungshuset, Lundag?ard, 222 22 Lund, Sweden christian.balkenius@lucs.lu.se

Abstract: The moth Macroglossum stellatarum can learn the colour and sometimes the odour of a rewarding food source. We present data from 20 different experiments with different combinations of blue and yellow artificial flowers and the two odours honeysuckle and lavender. The experiments show that learning about the odours depends on the colour used. By training on different colour-odour combinations and testing on others, it becomes possible to investigate the exact relation between the two modalities during learning. Three computational models were tested in the same experimental situations as the real moths and their predictions were compared to the experimental data. The average error over all experiments as well as the largest deviation from the experimental data were calculated. Neither the Rescorla-Wagner model or a learning model with independent learning for each stimulus component were able to explain the experimental data. In contrast, the new categorisation model, which assumes that the moth learns a template for the sensory attributes of the rewarding stimulus, produces behaviour that closely matches that of the real moth in all 20 experiments.


  
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