Stress is defined as any deviation from an organism’s baseline physiological levels. Therefore, introduction of new stimuli and information, such as in learning, can be defined as a stressor. A large body of research exists examining the role that stress plays in learning, but virtually none addresses whether or not learning itself is a measurable cause of stress. The current study used a wide variety of learning centric stress responses. Researchers examined changes in expression of ten stress and learning related genes in various physiological systems in domesticated honey bees (Apis mellifera) as a result of exposure to an aversive conditioning task. Gene expression was examined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction following the learning task. Results indicate that learning affects expression of some stress related genes.

压力被定义为与生物体基线生理水平的任何偏差。因此，引入新的刺激和信息，例如在学习中，可以定义为压力源。存在大量研究检查压力在学习中所起的作用，但几乎没有一项研究涉及学习本身是否是压力的可衡量原因。目前的研究使用了各种各样的以学习为中心的压力反应。研究人员检查了驯化蜜蜂（Apis mellifera ）各种生理系统中十种压力和学习相关基因的表达变化) 作为暴露于厌恶性条件反射任务的结果。在学习任务之后使用定量实时聚合酶链反应检查基因表达。结果表明，学习影响一些压力相关基因的表达。