Abstract

Significance Attention, observed in a wide variety of animals from insects to humans, involves selectively attending to behaviorally relevant stimuli while filtering out other stimuli. We designed a paradigm that allowed us to record brain activity in tethered, walking bees selecting virtual visual objects. We found that stimulus-specific brain activity increased when the bees controlled the position of the visual objects, and that activity decreased when bees were not in control. When bees were presented with competing objects, brain activity in the optic lobes preceded behavioral choices; this suggests that in animals with tiny brains, such as bees, attention-like processes are pushed far out into the sensory periphery. This trait is likely important for efficiently navigating complex visual environments.