Gonzalo Urcelay

Thank you for engaging with all this.

Correct, the original SOP does not explain G3 but Dickinson & Burke (1996 doi.org/10.1080/7139...) proposed a modification (no new parameters) that explains these phenomena (so called "retrospective revaluation" - i.e., learning about absent cues)

If it is a "threshold" then I'd see less of a reason to assume that the memory has been "erased" (it is harder to cross the threshold), I guess it depends on how you define a memory

I think that given conditioned inhibition training, you expect to see animals that "never reacquire" 50% partial reinforcement (this obviously depends on what threshold you use), so I do not see a reason for discarding them. These animals learned inhibition and therefore show retarded acquisition

great that you could visit, very informative and insightful conversations - and obviously a very nice talk

Looks like an amazing opportunity to do a postdoc

PALMS: Pavlovian Associative Learning Models Simulator Simulations are an indispensable step in the cycle of theory development and refinement, helping researchers formulate precise definitions, generate models, and make accurate predictions. This paper i...

New preprint and simulator of associative learning attentional models. Have fun! 👁️
arxiv.org/abs/2602.07519
cal-r.org/index.php?id...
#simulation #associative_learning #attention

As someone with an interest in 1) ways of enhancing extinction learning to attenuate recovery and 2) assessing the evidence for memory erasure, I read this preprint from the Namboodiri lab with attention. Here are a few thoughts on the preprint doi.org/10.64898/202...

A final thought on memory erasure. If a memory has been erased, the animal has no record of that prior experience. I would expect that reacquisition should occur at a similar rate as the original acquisition, not slower. The latter is consistent with conditioned inhibition.

The conclusion is that the treatments “truly erase” memory, and I doubt that this is the case. We have recently argued that there is no convincing evidence for memory erasure, instead the available evidence is better understood as new context-dependent learning doi.org/10.1037/rev0...

The paper is set to compare one model (ANCCR) with latent cause models, but the prediction is consistent with standard associative learning theory. It is argued that R-W does not account for spont recov, but Wagner’s SOP (conceptually, a real-time R-W) anticipates these findings

Compared to standard extinction learning, conditioned inhibition (either differential or unpaired) training resulted in retarded reacquisition and less spontaneous recovery. This extends the finding that conditioned inhibition training attenuates renewal
doi.org/10.1037/0097...

As someone with an interest in 1) ways of enhancing extinction learning to attenuate recovery and 2) assessing the evidence for memory erasure, I read this preprint from the Namboodiri lab with attention. Here are a few thoughts on the preprint doi.org/10.64898/202...

Heading back home from another @exppsychsoc.bsky.social brilliant meeting in London. Here's the information about the next one!

Excellent talk by @katepeters3.bsky.social, who visited us at @notts-psych.bsky.social today to speak about "Effects of environmental enrichment in reducing food seeking and the role of corticolimbic circuits"

This looks very appealing for someone looking to do a PhD in sunny Malaga (Spain) with an excellent mentor and team.

Yes, that phenomenon is also called the "gap-filling effect". However the contiguity that @gershbrain.bsky.social refers to is (to me) a CS duration effect, because in the figure above a delay procedure was used. The manipulation is not about temporal closeness between two events (CS and US)

It is all dependent on parameters and preparations, what's amazing to me about the figure is that the shape of the function is always the same.

It depends on who you ask, much of the evidence for contiguity comes experiments in which the trace interval is manipulated, to that the "delay" vs "trace" is the relevant comparison. But yes some of the wording in the Rescorla review takes on the view that you allude to

Mackintosh's figure (p 203) has a panel D in which contiguity (CS offset to US onset) does not follow the same inverted U pattern. As to why the inverted U, I take it that if the CS is too short it doesn't get processed and therefore less learning. Imagine a 3 ms tone and try to learn from it

I love this figure - it actually appeared first in Mackintosh's 1983 book and Rescorla adapted it - but I interpret it as showing a CS duration effect rather than proper contiguity (contiguity, that is the time between CS offset and US onset, is strong in all the examples by Rescorla)

Thought-provoking analysis by @markhaselgrove.bsky.social on a recent preprint looking at benchmarks for associative learning models 👇

In which 94 benchmark phenomena are identified.

16 are domain- and species-general and should be explained by any theory claiming generality.

30 are species- and/or domain-specific but highly robust across procedures

I looked into this two years ago and concluded that GPower cannot do this power calculation (2x2 W-S). Daniel Lakens has a shinny app that can do it (but there is a parameter [correlation between measures] which gives a lot of flexibility).

MRC Neurosciences and Mental Health Board (NMHB) member vacancies Closing date 14 September 2025 at 11:59pm (UK time) Number of positions Six Length of term Two years, plus additional two years after review Time commitment Two days per month Remuneration £160 per da...

The MRC are looking for a computational neuroscientist to join their Neuroscience & Mental Health Board, to replace me as I step down next year.

Drop me a line if you want to know more

Deadline September 14th

www.ukri.org/who-we-are/w....

Only two days left to apply for this 3-year postdoc position to look at fear, avoidance, heart rate monitoring and the neural mechanisms orchestrating these. Get in touch with Carl Stevenson or myself if you are interested, the deadline is Friday! Please repost.

Only a few days left to apply for this 3-year postdoc position in Nottingham (deadline Sept 5th!). If you're considering applying please get in touch. If you're already a PI, then repost this!

Reminder that we're looking for a Post Doc and the deadline is looming (Sept 5th). If you are interested, please get in touch. If you see this, please repost it to that it is seen by potential applicants!

In this recent #ResearchHighlight, the authors discuss new findings pointing a potential non-pharmacological approach for mitigating maladaptive craving behaviors

The cost of remembering: engram competition as a flexible mechanism of forgetting The retention and use of long-term memories is crucial for adaptive behavior. While stable memories help organisms anticipate outcomes, they may become maladaptive if not updated to reflect new condit...

The cost of remembering: engram competition as a flexible mechanism of forgetting.

Our new perspective piece in @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social, lead by Ryan Lab alumni, Livia Autore. Also with Michael Drew from @utaustin.bsky.social

Trends in Neurosciences www.cell.com/trends/neuro...