Prof. Dr. Metin Üngör

Research Interests

My research is concerned with the mechanisms underlying associative learning in humans. In particular, I am interested in the role of attentional processes in discrimination learning and categorisation.

Another line of research is focused on how behaviour comes under the control of contextual stimuli. I approach this questing by exploring an effect called renewal. Renewal refers to the recovery of an extinguished response when there is a change in the context present during the extinction of this response. As an example, take a situation in which a patient suffers from a relapse at home after having successfully completed an exposure-based treatment in a therapeutic setting.

Publications

Uengoer, M., Lucke, S., & Lachnit, H. (2018). Attention toward contexts modulates context-specificity of behavior in human predictive learning: Evidence from the n-back task. Learning & Behavior. doi:10.3758/s13420-018-0318-1

Bernal-Gamboa, R., Nieto, J., & Uengoer, M. (2018). Removing but not Adding Elements of a Context Affects Generalization of Instrumental Responses. Learning & Behavior. doi:10.3758/s13420-017-0307-9

Koenig, S., Uengoer, M., & Lachnit, H. (2017). Pupil dilation indicates the coding of past prediction errors: Evidence for attentional learning theory. Psychophysiology. doi:10.1111/psyp.13020

Koenig, S., Nauroth, P., Lucke, S., Lachnit, H., Gollwitzer, M., & Uengoer, M. (2017). Fear acquisition and liking of out-group and in-group members: Learning bias or attention? Biological Psychology, 129, 195–206. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.08.060

Uengoer, M., Dwyer, D. M., Koenig, S., & Pearce, J. M. (2017). A test for a difference in the associability of blocked and uninformative cues in human predictive learning. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2017.1345957

Koenig, S., Kadel, H., Uengoer, M., Schubö, A., & Lachnit, H. (2017). Reward draws the eye, uncertainty holds the eye: Associative learning modulates distractor interference in visual search. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00128    

Bernal-Gamboa, R., Nieto, J., & Uengoer, M. (2017). Effects of Extinction in Multiple Contexts on Renewal of Instrumental Responses. Behavioural Processes, 142, 64–69. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.06.003      

Uengoer, M., Pearce, J. M., Lachnit, H., & Koenig, S. (2017). Context modulation of learned attention deployment. Learning & Behavior. doi: 10.3758/s13420-017-0277-y   

Koenig, S., Uengoer, M., & Lachnit, H. (2017). Attentional bias for uncertain cues of shock in human fear conditioning: Evidence for attentional learning theory. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 24. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2017.00266   

Nieto, J., Uengoer, M., & Bernal-Gamboa, R. (2017). A reminder of extinction reduces relapse in an animal model of voluntary behavior. Learning & Memory, 24(2), 76–80. doi:10.1101/lm.044495.116

Bustamante, J., Uengoer, M., & Lachnit, H. (2016). Reminder cues modulate the renewal effect in human predictive learning. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 80. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01968

Bustamante, J., Uengoer, M., Thorwart, A., & Lachnit, H. (2016). Extinction in multiple contexts: Effects on the rate of extinction and the strength of response recovery. Learning & Behavior, 44(3), 283–294. doi:10.3758/s13420-016-0212-7

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

Thorwart, A., Uengoer, M., Livesey, E. J., & Harris, J. A. (2016). Summation effects in human learning: evidence from patterning discriminations in goal-tracking. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 70(7), 1366–1379. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2016.1184290

Chang, D.-I., Lissek, S., Ernst, T. M., Thürling, M., Uengoer, M., Tegenthoff, M., Ladd, M. E., & Timmann, D. (2015). Cerebellar contribution to context processing in extinction learning and recall. The Cerebellum, 14(6), 670–676. doi:10.1007/s12311-015-0670-z

Feldmann-Wüstefeld, T., Uengoer, M., & Schubö, A. (2015). You see what you have learned. Evidence for an interrelation of associative learning and visual selective attention. Psychophysiology, 52(11), 1483–1497. doi:10.1111/psyp.12514

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

Lucke, S., Lachnit, H., Stüttgen, M. C., & Uengoer, M. (2014). The impact of context relevance during extinction learning. Learning & Behavior, 42(3), 256–269. doi:10.3758/s13420-014-0143-0

Lengersdorf, D., Stüttgen, M. C., 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. Behavioural Brain Research, 265, 93–100. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2014.02.025

Hamacher-Dang, T. C., Uengoer, M., & Wolf, O. T. (2013). Stress impairs retrieval of extinguished and unextinguished associations in a predictive learning task. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 104, 1–8. doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2013.04.007 

Lachnit, H., Thorwart, A., Schultheis, H., Lotz, A., Koenig, S., & Uengoer, M. (2013). Indicators of early and late processing reveal the importance of within-trial-time for theories of associative learning. PLoS ONE, 8(6), e66291. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066291 

Lissek, S., Glaubitz, B., Uengoer, M., & Tegenthoff, M. (2013). Hippocampal activation during extinction learning predicts occurrence of the renewal effect in extinction recall. NeuroImage, 81, 131–143. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.05.025

Lucke, S., Lachnit, H., Koenig, S., & Uengoer, M. (2013). The informational value of contexts affects context-dependent learning. Learning & Behavior, 41(3), 285–297. doi:10.3758/s13420-013-0104-z 

Uengoer, M., Lachnit, H., Lotz, A., Koenig, S., & Pearce, J. M. (2013). Contextual control of attentional allocation in human discrimination learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 39(1), 56–66. doi:10.1037/a0030599  

Uengoer, M., Lotz, A., & Pearce, J. M. (2013). The fate of redundant cues in human predictive learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 39(4), 323–333. doi:10.1037/a0034073

Lotz, A., Uengoer, M., Koenig, S., Pearce, J. M., & Lachnit, H. (2012). An exploration of the feature-positive effect in adult humans. Learning & Behavior, 40(2), 222–230. doi:10.3758/s13420-011-0057-z  

Uengoer, M., & Lachnit, H. (2012). Modulation of attention in discrimination learning: The roles of stimulus relevance and stimulus–outcome correlation. Learning & Behavior, 40(2), 117–127. doi:10.3758/s13420-011-0049-z

Lachnit, H., Schultheis, H., König, S., Üngör, M., & Melchers, K. (2008). Comparing elemental and configural associative theories in human causal learning: A case for attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 34(2), 303–313. doi:10.1037/0097-7403.34.2.303

Üngör, M., & Lachnit, H. (2008). Dissociations among ABA, ABC, and AAB recovery effects. Learning and Motivation, 39(3), 181–195. doi:10.1016/j.lmot.2007.08.001

Üngör, M., & Lachnit, H. (2006). Contextual control in discrimination reversal learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 32(4), 441–453. doi:10.1037/0097-7403.32.4.441

Melchers, K. G., Lachnit, H., Üngör, M., & Shanks, D. R. (2005). Prior experience can influence whether the whole is different from the sum of its parts. Learning and Motivation, 36(1), 20–41. doi:10.1016/j.lmot.2004.06.002

Melchers, K. G., Üngör, M., & Lachnit, H. (2005). The experimental task influences cue competition in human causal learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 31(4), 477–483. doi:10.1037/0097-7403.31.4.477