Neurocognition of learning and memory

Overview

Our primary scientific interests concern the cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory across the life-span. More specifically, we are interested in dopaminergic and cholinergic neuromodulation and their relationship to learning, adaptation and motivation. To gain insight into these issues, we use multimodal imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electro- and magnetoencephalography (EEG/MEG) in combination with behavioural experiments and neuropsychopharmacology. Our work offers direct translational applications to clinical research investigating, for instance, dementia disorders, Schizophrenia and Parkinson's Disease which we perform in close collaboration with colleagues from the University College London, King's College London, University of Cambridge and University of Magdeburg.

  • Research topics
  • Research topics

    • Life-span psychology
    • Dopaminergic and cholinergic neuromodulation of learning
    • The role of motivation in memory functioning
    • Implications of normal and pathological aging for learning and memory
    • Mesolimbic novelty processing

  • Apitz, T., and Bunzeck, N. (2013). Dopamine Controls the Neural Dynamics of Memory Signals and Retrieval Accuracy. Neuropsychopharmacology 38, 2409-2417

    Bunzeck, N., and Duzel, E. (2006). Absolute Coding of Stimulus Novelty in the Human Substantia Nigra/VTA. Neuron 51, 369-379

    Bunzeck, N., Schütze, H., Stallforth, S., Kaufmann, J., Düzel, S., Heinze, H.-J., and Düzel, E. (2007). Mesolimbic Novelty Processing in Older Adults. Cereb. Cortex 17, 2940-2948

    Bunzeck, N., Doeller, C.F., Fuentemilla, L., Dolan, R.J., and Duzel, E. (2009). Reward motivation accelerates the onset of neural novelty signals in humans to 85 milliseconds. Curr Biol 19, 1294-1300

    Bunzeck, N., Singh-Curry, V., Eckart, C., Weiskopf, N., Perry, R.J., Bain, P.G., Düzel, E., and Husain, M. (2013). Motor phenotype and magnetic resonance measures of basal ganglia iron levels in Parkinson's disease. Parkinsonism Relat. Disord. 19, 1136-1142

    Zaehle, T., Bauch, E.M., Hinrichs, H., Schmitt, F.C., Voges, J., Heinze, H.-J., and Bunzeck, N. (2013). Nucleus Accumbens Activity Dissociates Different Forms of Salience: Evidence from Human Intracranial Recordings. J. Neurosci. 33, 8764-8771

  • Hamburg state cluster of excellence (Landesexcellenzinitiative, neurodapt!)

    DFG Research grants (BU 2670/1-1, 2670/1-2, BU 2670/3-1, SO 952/3-1
    [together with Dr. T. Sommer-Blöchl])

    UKE Complementary research funding

  • Lluis Fuentemilla
    University of Barcelona, Spain

    Tino Zaehle
    University of Magdeburg, Germany

    Toby Winton-Brown
    King’s College London, UK

    Masud Husain
    University of Oxford, UK

    Tobias Sommer-Blöchl
    UKE Hamburg, Germany