j *@ - Sociedade Brasileira de Psicologia

Violet Colours:
' ' In the first experiment light of middle and short wavelengths was added in
order to match the alternative colour plate to the colour of the training plate. Relative
choice frequency for these 2 colour fields under training illlmination shows that the
2 colours are wel discriminated (r -test, p < 0.01). After changing the ilblmination,
the bees choose the training colour plate and matching plate with the same percentage
of correct choices as before, even tllough the spectral content of the nutched colour
dlxring the matching test was identical to that of the training colour plate during
training.
Bluep een O l/lzr&.'
Three colour matches were carried out for blue-green colours. In all cases, '
light of middle- and/or short-wavelenghtlight had to be .added. In the f'zrst case, the
change in spectral content was peater lhnn that imposed in the preceeding experiment.
Nevertheless; the choice-frequency changed only mazginally. Simihr results weie
obtsined when tle ilumination was changed to match the 2 other blue-green alternative
colour plates to the training plate. In b0t1 cases the bee preferred the training
plate relatively indem ndent pf the illlmination conditions. . .
It should be emphazised that the spectral content of the transmitted light is
changed simultaneously and homogeneom ly for a11 the plates.
The results can be summqrized as folows:
1 . The training plate is always recognized , and thlzs it can be concluded that
identical perceptions can be produced by different ratios of receptor signals.
2. The alternative plate was never mistaken for the trairking plate.
Therefore, an identical set of receptor signals does not necessarily produce
the same perception. .
Rhe results of these expedments strongly suggest that choice behaviour, and
thus cololzr m rception, in bees is rehtively independent of the spedral content'of the
iltmination. The rbsults also confirm earlier experiments of Neumeyer (198 1), and are
similar to observations in man (Iaemd, 1977) and goldfish (Ingle, 1985). Furthermore,
the results are not consistent with the trichzom atic theory of colour vision.
H. Quality of colour constu cy.
In some tests for colour constancy in the bluepeen region, the illumination
change produced changes in choice behavior which correlated with the specific changes
imposed on their spectral content. The degree of these chnnges varied from slightbutiystematic
through to a total lack of colour constancy. In comparison, colour
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