Bees can be trained to recognize human faces. Subjects faces are painted with patterns, which the bees differentiate and associate with particular persons. This capability is presented in the article reporting the research as a matter of training the bees for pattern recognition. We know already that bees can and do construct mental maps to represent features of their environment significant to their major functions, such as finding pollen and finding the hive. So the question is, is this matter of facial pattern recognition different from mental maps construction and recognition. Evolution usually works by adapting old structures with new functions, so we might expect facial recognition to be a matter of mental map construction and retention. Of course, this is just my speculation.
Further speculation. Bees' mental map construction is probably not a mental product at all, in the sense of mental activity that arranges sensory input into a configuration that represents reality. My guess, mental maps are constructed by the sensory system and registered in the brain for memory retention and use. The sensory construction would involve structural properties in the sense organs that filter, perhaps in a sequence of filters, sensory input to create an "abstract" representation of reality in map form.
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