A01 A02 A03 A04 A05 A06 A07 A09 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A18 A19 A21 F01 F02 INF Ö

A01 – Extinction Learning in the 4th Dimension

Onur Güntürkün, Roland Pusch

This project aims to understand neural fundaments of extinction of appetitive conditioning in pigeons in a design that permits to analyze neural events governing acquisition, context dependent extinction and renewal along the full time frame (the 4th dimension). We combine single cell recordings, fMRI and optogenetic methods in awake pigeons to analyze key events as well as causal interactions between brain areas of the extinction network (NCL, NFL, arcopallium, hippocampus) at the cellular and at the overall systems level. By studying a different animal model we aim to discover variant as well as invariant properties of extinction learning in terms of behavior and neurobiology.

Guiding questions of A01:

  • Does extinction learning change the neural representation of conditioned stimuli (CS) in the “prefrontal” NCL, the motor  arcopallium, the visual NFL, and the hippocampus in context-specific ways?
  • How is the CS-representation in visual NFL and the hippocampus modulated by the the “prefrontal”  NCL during extinction learning and renewal?
  • Which forebrain areas beyond these four structures participate in appetitive extinction and renewal and what is their sequence of activation during a discrimination-extinction-renewal-cycle?
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Onur Güntürkün

Projektleiter A01, F01, Z, Ö

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Roland Pusch

Projektleiter A01

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Mina Khodadadi

Postdoc A01

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Robert Reichert

Doktorand A01

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

10 project-relevant publications

Behroozi M, Lorenzi E, Tabrik S, Tegenthoff M, Gozzi A, Güntürkün O, Vallortigara G (2024) Functional MRI of imprinting memory in awake newborn domestic chicks. Commun Biol. 7: 1326. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06991-z

Güntürkün O, Pusch R, Rose J (2024) Why birds are smart. Trends Cogn Sci. 28: 197–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2023.11.002 

Güntürkün O, von Eugen K, Packheiser J, Pusch R (2021) Avian pallial circuits and cognition – A comparison to mammals. Curr Opin in Neurobiol. 71: 29–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2021.08.007

Khodadadi M, Helluy X, Güntürkün O, Behroozi M (2023) Segmented Spin-Echo EPI imaging improves whole-brain BOLD fMRI in awake pigeon brains. NMR Biomed. 8: e5034. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.5034

Packheiser J, Donoso JR, Cheng S, Güntürkün O, Pusch R (2021) Trial-by-trial dynamics of reward prediction errors during extinction learning and renewal. Prog Neurobiol. 197: 101901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pneurobio.2020.101901

Pusch R, Packheiser J, Azizi AH, Sevincik CS, Rose J, Cheng S, Stüttgen MC, Güntürkün O (2023) Working memory performance is tied to stimulus complexity. Commun Biol. 6: 111. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-05486-7

Rook N, Tuff JM, Isparta S, Masseck O, Herlitze S, Güntürkün O, Pusch R (2021) AAV1 is the optimal viral vector for optogenetic experiments in pigeons (Columba livia). Commun Biol. 4: 100. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01595-9

Sadraee A, Helluy X, Genç, E, Gao M, Behroozi M, Güntürkün O (2025) Neural correlates of appetitive extinction learning: An fMRI study with actively participating pigeons, bioRxiv 2025.04.28.650993 https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.04.28.650993

Sevincik S, Packheiser J, Donoso JR, Cheng S, Güntürkün O, Pusch R (2025) Divide and conquer: How single units of the avian “prefrontal” area and hippocampus complementary process extinction learning, BioRxiv. bioRxiv 2025.03.21.644535 https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.21.644535

Steinemer A, Simon A, Güntürkün O, Rook N (2024) Parallel executive pallio-motor loops in the pigeon brain. J Comp Neurol. 532: e25611. https://doi.org/10.1002/cne.25611