Data_Sheet_1_Segregation of Unknown Odors From Mixtures Based on Stimulus Onset Asynchrony in Honey Bees.CSV

Animals use olfaction to search for distant objects. Unlike vision, where objects are spaced out, olfactory information mixes when it reaches olfactory organs. Therefore, efficient olfactory search requires segregating odors that are mixed with background odors. Animals can segregate known odors by detecting short differences in the arrival of mixed odorants (stimulus onset asynchrony). However, it is unclear whether animals can also use stimulus onset asynchrony to segregate odorants that they had no previous experience with and which have no innate or learned relevance (unknown odorants). Using behavioral experiments in honey bees, we here show that stimulus onset asynchrony also improves segregation of those unknown odorants. The stimulus onset asynchrony necessary to segregate unknown odorants is in the range of seconds, which is two orders of magnitude larger than the previously reported stimulus asynchrony sufficient for segregating known odorants. We propose that for unknown odorants, segregating odorant A from a mixture with B requires sensory adaptation to B.

动物依靠嗅觉（olfaction）搜寻远距离目标。与视觉不同——视觉中的物体呈分散排布，而嗅觉信息在抵达嗅觉器官时会发生混合。因此，高效的嗅觉搜寻需要将目标气味与背景气味的混合信号进行分离。动物可通过检测混合气味剂（odorant）的抵达时间差——即刺激起始异步性（stimulus onset asynchrony）——来分离已知气味剂。然而目前尚不清楚，动物是否也能借助刺激起始异步性，来分离那些从未接触过、既无先天关联也无后天习得关联的气味剂（unknown odorants，未知气味剂）。本研究通过蜜蜂行为学实验证明，刺激起始异步性同样可提升对这类未知气味剂的分离效果。分离未知气味剂所需的刺激起始异步性时长处于秒级区间，比此前报道中分离已知气味剂所需的刺激异步性高出两个数量级。我们提出，针对未知气味剂而言，若要从与B的混合气味中分离出气味剂A，需要对B产生感觉适应。