Energy consumption is not the way they measure distance. Bees travelling a short distance in a narrow tunnel can be fooled into thinking they ve gone a long way. Yes, strength of emotion has a big effect. It is not known how but memories are put down more quickly. Given that relationship between memory and emotion, reason could be natural selection favouring rational scientific thinking.
Scientists have strong emotional responses to their own ideas.
There was a variance of 20 per cent in performing the tasks. My wife called one bee Srini because when he was faced with a choice he took such a long time to make up his mind. Anxiety and depression have evolutionary advantages. When an infant is separated from its mother it will start screaming. This is a response to attract the wanted person.