Will a hornet remember you?

A hornet will not remember you in human sense of personal recognition and holding a grudge for days, as hornets are insects with simple nervous systems that lack complex memory for individual humans, though they do have some ability to learn and recognize threats to colony in short term. Hornets can learn to associate certain smells, colors, locations, or movements with danger and may become more defensive if same threat repeatedly approaches nest, and they release alarm pheromones when threatened that alert other hornets and cause heightened defensive state that can persist for hours, which can appear as remembering you, but this is colony defense mechanism, not personal memory of you as individual. If you disturb nest and return later same day, hornets may still be agitated due to lingering alarm pheromones and be more likely to sting, not because they remember your face. Studies show some wasps can recognize faces of other wasps for social hierarchy, but not human faces for revenge. Hornets do not have long-term memory of specific people to target them later away from nest. So hornet will not remember you personally, but if you disturb nest, the colony may remain agitated for a while and defend more vigorously if you return soon, so best to avoid area after disturbance and wear different clothing if you were stung, as venom and pheromone on clothing can attract more hornets, and wash sting sites to remove pheromone.