To see what effects learning in one context can exercise upon subsequent learning in other contexts the relation between olfactory learning performance of honey bees,Apis melliferaL., in a restrained classical conditioning paradigm for the proboscis extension reflex and chemosensory experience under natural circumstances was investigated. The effects of food-source odours and of the hive's odour on subsequent laboratory proboscis extension performance were tested. There was a transfer effect for odours from a food source to proboscis extension reflex conditioning in the laboratory: bees extended their proboscis in response to food-source odour and showed resistance to its extinction. Hive odour had no detectable effect. Thus, the observed transfer effect for food-source odours was likely to be caused by memories established during foraging rather than by within-hive experience with the scent of harvested food. The observed transfer effect for odours from a food source thus points to a surprisingly weak role of context for the retrieval of olfactory memories established during foraging. Furthermore, it offers an experience-based explanation for variability in honey bee proboscis extension learning.