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The free-flying procedure (also known as the von Frish technique) is an instrumental training technique for honey bees in which trained animals shuttle back and forth from the laboratory colony to the experimental arena, where they take sucrose from targets distinguished by color, odor, or position. Developed by Karl von Frisch (1914), the free-flying procedure has become one of the most important in the analysis of invertebrate learning. The principal advantages are versatility and convenience. Some rather sophisticated experiments have been performed using this procedure, including overshadowing, potentiation, and within-compound associations; dimensional shift in choice problems; the overlearning-extinction effect and its dependence on magnitude of reinforcement; contrast effects; operant conditioning of lever press and head dipping; punishment and signaled avoidance. Other advantages are the simplicity of the apparatus, the naturalness of the situation, and the ability to do experiments lasting several hours or days. The latter advantage is perhaps unique to the bee in the invertebrate learning literature because unlike other invertebrates , the bee does not satiate. After a feeding, the bee returns to the nest and unloads its booty before alighting for the return trip to the test arena.