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Captain__Spiff t1_jedltm5 wrote

Insects work mostly automatically, their actions get triggered by specific impulses.

There was an experiment where they observed a beetle doing his mating... Things. I don't remember what exactly he did. Anyway, by disrupting the task and putting the bug in the same place as before, it would start the next action again and again, not realizing that it's attempts were futile. The bug could not learn and adapt to the situation. It was forced to play through its program linearly.

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TheLonesomeCheese t1_jedwn29 wrote

I think this was actually with a wasp collecting food for its nest. The wasp would collect a caterpillar, leave it just outside the nest and then head inside the burrow to check it was safe before taking the prey inside. But when the caterpillar was moved while the wasp was in the burrow, it would take the caterpillar back to the same spot as before then go inside to check the nest again. This pattern couldn't be broken.

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