A01 A02 A03 A04 A05 A06 A07 A08 A09 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A15 A16 A18 F01 F02

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

Onur Güntürkün

Projektleiter A01, F01, Z, Ö

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Roland Pusch

Roland Pusch

Projektleiter A01

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Noemie Rook

Noemie Rook

Postdoc A01

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

10 project-relevant publications

De Groof G, Jonckers E, Güntürkün O, Denolf P, van Auderkerke J, van der Linden A (2013) Functional MRI and functional connectivity of the visual system of awake pigeons. Behav Brain Res. 239: 43–50. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2012.10.044

Güntürkün O, Verhoye M, De Groof G, van der Linden A (2013) A 3-dimensional digital atlas of the ascending sensory and the descending motor systems in the pigeon brain. Brain Struct Funct. 218(1): 269–281. doi:10.1007/s00429-012-0400-y

Kasties N, Starosta S, Güntürkün O, Stüttgen MC (2016) Neurons in the pigeon caudolateral nidopallium differentiate Pavlovian conditioned stimuli but not their associated reward value in a sign-tracking paradigm. Sci Rep. 6:35469. doi:10.1038/srep35469

Koenen C, Pusch R, Broker F, Thiele S, Güntürkün O (2016) Categories in the pigeon brain: A reverse engineering approach. J Exp Anal Behav. 105(1): 111–122. doi:10.1002/jeab.179

Lengersdorf D, Marks D, Uengoer M, Stüttgen MC, Güntürkün O (2015) Blocking NMDA-receptors in the pigeon’s “prefrontal” caudal nidopallium impairs appetitive extinction learning in a sign-tracking paradigm. Front Behav Neurosci. 9: 85. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00085

Lengersdorf D, Pusch R, Güntürkün O, Stüttgen MC (2014) Neurons in the pigeon nidopallium caudolaterale signal the selection and execution of perceptual decisions. Eur J Neurosci. 40(9): 3316–3327. doi:10.1111/ejn.12698

Lengersdorf D, Stüttgen MC, Uengoer M, Güntürkün O (2014) Transient inactivation of the pigeon hippocampus or the nidopallium caudolaterale during extinction learning impairs extinction retrieval in an appetitive conditioning paradigm. Behav Brain Res. 265: 93–100.  doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2014.02.025

Lissek S, Güntürkün O (2003) Dissociation of extinction and behavioral disinhibition: the role of NMDA receptors in the pigeon associative forebrain during extinction. J Neurosci. 23(22): 8119–8124.

Starosta S, Stüttgen MC, Güntürkün O (2014) Recording single neurons’ action potentials from freely moving pigeons across three stages of learning. J Vis Exp. (88). doi:10.3791/51283

Starosta S, Uengoer M, Bartetzko I, Lucke S, Güntürkün O, Stüttgen MC (2016) Context specificity of both acquisition and extinction of a Pavlovian conditioned response. Learn Mem. 23(11): 639–643. doi:10.1101/lm.043075.116