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

A04 – The neural mechanisms of extinction learning

Denise Manahan-Vaughan

This project will focus on the neurophysiological basis of extinction learning, particularly at the (sub)cellular levels of encoding and processing within neuronal populations. We will use electrophysiological approaches to examine the neural mechanisms and signatures of task acquisition, extinction learning and renewal in the rodent brain. Focus will be placed on the hippocampus, but its interactions with structures such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) will also be studied.

Guiding questions of A04:

  • How do neuronal oscillations change during task acquisition, effective context-dependent extinction learning and renewal of an appetitive spatial task in rodents? (Neural signatures)
  • How do place fields change when effective context-dependent extinction learning takes place? Does re-activation restore the original place field patterns? (Neural codes)
  • Do extinction-related brain structures (hippocampus, PFC) engage in ‘dialog’ at the level of neuronal oscillations during extinction? (Neural dialog)
  • To what extent do neuromodulatory structures and plasticity-related proteins contribute to the abovementioned processes? (Neural modulators)
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Denise Manahan-Vaughan

Projektleiterin A04

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Marta Méndez-Couz

Postdoc A04

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

10 project-relevant publications

André ME, Manahan-Vaughan D (2015) Involvement of dopamine D1/D5 and D2 receptors in context-dependent extinction learning and memory reinstatement. Frontiers Behav Neurosci. 9:125. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00125

André ME, Wolf O, Manahan-Vaughan D (2015) Beta-adrenergic receptors support attention to extinction learning that occurs in the absence, but not the presence, of a context change. Frontiers Behav Neurosci. 9:125. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.07.028

Draht F, Zhang S, Rayan A, Schönfeld F, Wiskott L, Manahan-Vaughan D (2017) Directionality determines place cell activity as a function of learning. Frontiers Behav Neurosci 11:92. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00092.

Dubovyk V, Manahan-Vaughan D (2019a) Gradient of expression of dopamine D2 receptors along the dorso-ventral axis of the hippocampus. Front Syn Neurosci. 11:28

Dubovyk V, Manahan-Vaughan D (2019b) Distinct time-course of alterations of group I and II metabotropic glutamate receptor and GABAergic receptor expression along the dorsoventral hippocampal axis in an animal model of psychosis. Frontiers Behav Neurosci. 13:98.

Hoang TH, Aliane V, Manahan-Vaughan D (2018) Novel exploration of positional or directional spatial cues induces Arc mRNA expression in different hippocampal subfields: evidence for parallel information processing and the “what” stream. Hippocampus, 28: 315–326.

Mendéz-Couz M, Becker JM, Manahan-Vaughan D (2019) Functional compartmentalization of the contribution of hippocampal subfields to context-dependent extinction learning. Front Beh Neurosci. 13:256. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00256.

Méndez-Couz M, Silva AP, Gonçalves J, González-Pardo H, Arias JL, Manahan-Vaughan D, Conejo NM (2020) Metaplastic contribution of Neuropeptide Y receptors to spatial memory acquisition. Behavioral Brain Research. 396:112864. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112864

Poe G, Foote S, Eschenko O, Johanson JJ, Bouret S, Aston-Jones G, Harley CW, Manahan-Vaughan D, Weinshenker D, Valentino R, Berridge C, Chandler C, Waterhouse B, Sara SJ (2020) Locus coeruleus: a new look on the blue spot. Nature Rev Neurosci. In press. doi: 10.1038/s41583-020-0360-9

Uengor M, Lissek S, Tegenthoff M, Manahan-Vaughan D, Lachnit H. (2020) Principles of extinction learning of nonaversive experience. NeuroForum. 26(3): 151–158.