SFB 1280:  Extinction Learning

• Subject Area: Social and Behavioural Sciences ; Biology ; Medicine
• Term: since 2017
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 316803389

We constantly learn new information and seem to forget the old one. While the initial acquisition of knowledge is well studied, the process of extinction is far less understood. Extinction involves both forgetting as well as a new learning process that results in a new memory trace which inhibits the old one. In the project, we aim to study the neural, behavioral, ontogenetic, and clinical mechanisms of extinction in various species, including humans. The diversity of our approaches at the systems and at the methodological level is combined with a high level of homogeneity at structural, experimental, technical, and conceptual levels.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• International Connection: Luxembourg

Current projects

• A01 - Extinction Learning in the 4th Dimension (Project Heads Güntürkün, Onur ;  Pusch, Roland )
• A02 - Neural mechanisms of context generalization (Project Head Axmacher, Nikolai )
• A04 - The Neural Mechanisms of Extinction learning (Project Heads Haubrich, Josué ;  Manahan-Vaughan, Denise )
• A05 - The contribution of the cerebellum to extinction: intrinsic mechanisms and cerebello-cerebral interactions (Project Heads Peterburs, Jutta ;  Quick, Harald ;  Timmann-Braun, Dagmar )
• A07 - Interaction between stress and serotonergic signaling pathways to modulate extinction learning in the amygdala (Project Heads Herlitze, Stefan ;  Spoida, Katharina )
• A09 - Improving stress hormone effects on extinction learning and retrieval (Project Heads Jentsch, Valerie Lena ;  Merz, Christian Josef ;  Wolf, Oliver Tobias )
• A10 - From Pavlov to Pain: Extinction learning in visceral pain (Project Heads Elsenbruch, Sigrid ;  Icenhour, Adriane )
• A11 - Adapting to Change: Learning and Extinction in Dynamic Environments in Healthy Individuals and Chronic Pain Patients (Project Heads Bingel, Ulrike ;  Forkmann, Katarina ;  Schmidt, Katharina )
• A12 - The impact of chronic inflammation on fear extinction (Project Heads Elsenbruch, Sigrid ;  Engler, Harald )
• A13 - Adding imagery-based interventions to exposure and fear extinction (Project Heads Margraf, Jürgen ;  Woud, Marcella ;  Zlomuzica, Armin )
• A14 - Modeling Context-Dependent Acquisition and Extinction Learning (Project Head Cheng, Sen )
• A18 - How learning shapes immunity (Project Heads Hadamitzky, Martin ;  Schedlowski, Manfred )
• A19 - Causality and neural dynamics of context and generalization (Project Head Rose, Jonas )
• A21 - Cerebellar contribution to fear extinction (Project Head Mark, Melanie D. )
• F01 - Focus Group Learning Dynamics (Project Heads Cheng, Sen ;  Güntürkün, Onur ;  Lachnit, Harald ;  Üngör, Metin )
• F02 - Focus Group Neuroimaging and Genetics (Project Heads Axmacher, Nikolai ;  Kumsta, Robert ;  Quick, Harald ;  Spisak, Tamas ;  Timmann-Braun, Dagmar )
• INF - Information Infrastructure (Project Heads Otto, Tobias ;  Winter, Nina Olivia Caroline )
• Z - Central administration (Project Head Güntürkün, Onur )
• Ö - Public outreach (Project Head Güntürkün, Onur )

Completed projects

• A03 - Functional role and dynamic change of extinction network connectivity (Project Heads Axmacher, Nikolai ;  Genc, Erhan )
• A06 - Testing for causality of fear extinction: networks, plasticity, and beyond (Project Heads Nitsche, Michael ;  Ruge, Ph.D., Diane ;  Yavari, Ph.D., Fatemeh )
• A08 - Structural, process- and context-related factors mediating the renewal effect of extinction (Project Heads Lissek, Silke ;  Tegenthoff, Martin )
• A15 - Understanding the prediction error driving extinction (Project Head Lachnit, Harald )
• A16 - Early extinction learning and the developing brain (Project Heads Schneider, Silvia ;  Weigelt, Sarah )

• Applicant Institution: Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Participating University: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; MSH Medical School Hamburg; Philipps-Universität Marburg; Universität Duisburg-Essen
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Onur Güntürkün