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:
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