Motivation is a fundamental factor eliciting and controlling behavior in higher animals, including humans. Specifically, it is at the basis of all goal-oriented decision-making through humans' entire lifespan. Motivation is therefore of central interest not only for the life sciences and clinical research, but also of highest societal relevance. While theories of the nature of motivation have a century-long history in psychology and the social sciences, the systematic exploration of brain mechanisms underlying motivation has begun only relatively recently.The CRC 779 "Neurobiology of motivated behavior" investigates the neuronal bases of motivational processes with an interdisciplinary approach that exploits the complementary advantages of animal and human research. It has established a network of closely interacting researchers from the Magdeburg University, the University Hospital/Medical Faculty, the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases - Site Magdeburg that transgresses classical academic disciplines. Combination of brain circuit analyses in rodents with imaging approaches in humans produces novel insights into the functional architecture of brain systems mediating motivation-based behaviors. Molecular analyses investigate cellular signaling during motivational processes and proteomic screening approaches identify molecules that are differentially regulated by different forms of motivation. This form of concept-based integration of contributions from different scientific disciplines yields a deepened understanding of the neuronal basis of motivation and allows the translation into clinical applications, including the new opportunities for treating several kinds of neuropsychiatric diseases.The CRC 779 has become an important determinant for structural development of the Magdeburg neuroscience landscape. Both, university and state of Saxony-Anhalt have defined the Neurosciences as a focus topic of research and support. Consequently, during its first two funding periods, the CRC 779 not only has attracted established researchers from near and abroad as new members, but also has taken measures of sustained early career support in this fast developing scientific field by implementing an Integrated Research Training Group and establishing new young-investigators' groups.
DFG Programme
Collaborative Research Centres
Completed projects
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A01 - The spatio-temporal dynamic of reward- and attention-related selection in human visual cortex
(Project Heads
Hopf, Jens-Max
;
Schoenfeld, Mircea Ariel
)
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A02 - Cortico-basal ganglia mechanisms for overcoming prepotent behaviour
(Project Heads
Düzel, Emrah
;
Heinze, Hans-Jochen
;
Zaehle, Ph.D., Tino
)
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A03 - Internal models of stimulus-response and action-outcome associations in ADHD
(Project Heads
Haynes, John-Dylan
;
Heinze, Hans-Jochen
;
Krauel, Kerstin
;
Stenner, Max-Philipp
)
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A04 - Neuronal representation of motivational value and context in explicit and implicit learning
(Project Heads
Hamker, Fred Henrik
;
Pollmann, Stefan
;
Preuschhof, Claudia
)
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A05 - Neural correlates of information indicating reward and punishment in healthy subjects, Parkinson patients and heroin-addicts
(Project Head
Münte, Thomas F.
)
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A06 - Modulation of excitation/inhibition balance by NMDAR antagonism in depression
(Project Heads
Bogerts, Bernhard
;
Fejtová, Anna
;
Walter, Martin
)
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A07 - Functional control of dopamine release in humans: changes in aging and the modifying role of the locus coeruleus (LC)
(Project Heads
Düzel, Emrah
;
Speck, Oliver
)
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A08 - Genetic influence on the modulation of attention and memory via reward or punishment
(Project Heads
Schott, Björn Hendrik
;
Seidenbecher, Constanze
;
Zenker, Martin
)
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A09 - Integration of reward and punishment during learning: Modelling experimental data
(Project Head
Herrmann, Christoph
)
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A10 - Hippocampal functional connectivity during episodic memory formation in humans: The roles of reward- and salience-related dopaminergic brain areas, novelty, and schema-related episodic distinctiveness
(Project Heads
Eßlinger, Christine
;
Kluge, Christian
;
Richardson-Klavehn, Ph.D., Alan
;
Schott, Björn Hendrik
)
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A11 - Evaluation, exploration and action: The role of the PPN
(Project Heads
Heinze, Hans-Jochen
;
Kluge, Christian
;
Voges, Jürgen
)
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A12 - Habenular (dys)function in decisions on approach and avoidance
(Project Heads
Speck, Oliver
;
Ullsperger, Markus
)
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A14 - From reward to addiction: the neural correlates of craving
(Project Heads
Donohue, Sarah Elizabeth
;
Harris, Joseph Allen
;
Schoenfeld, Mircea Ariel
)
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A15 - Anticipation, Processing and Control of primary rewards
(Project Heads
Hanke, Michael
;
Noesselt, Tömme
)
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B01 - Interaction of sensory and reinforcement-evaluating brain systems in auditory learning
(Project Head
Ohl, Frank W.
)
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B02 - Motivation-dependent processes of concept formation in the auditory cortex of macaque monkeys
(Project Heads
Brosch, Ph.D., Michael
;
Scheich, Henning
)
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B03 - Influence of very early training on adult learning performance in rats
(Project Head
Braun, Anna Katharina
)
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B04 - Neuromodulation and hippocampal plasticity, 'synaptic tag' molecules and plasticity-related proteins: Role for a selective storage of memory contents
(Project Heads
Frey, Julietta Uta
;
Frey, Sabine
)
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B05 - GABA interneurons as mediators of cognitive flexibility
(Project Heads
Linke, Rüdiger
;
Schwegler, Herbert
;
Stork, Oliver
)
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B06 - Synaptic plasticity mechanisms regulating fear memory and fear extinction learning
(Project Head
Leßmann, Volkmar
)
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B08 - The NMDA-receptor activated nuclear import of Jacob: A signaling pathway regulating learning-induced gene expression?
(Project Heads
Karpova, Ph.D., Anna
;
Kreutz, Michael R.
)
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B09 - Mechanisms of synaptic plasticity during cortex-dependent learning
(Project Heads
Dieterich, Daniela C.
;
Gundelfinger, Eckart D.
;
Tischmeyer, Wolfgang
)
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B11 - Parceling out the sites and mechanisms of reward-, relief- and safety-memories in Drosophila
(Project Head
Gerber, Bertram
)
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B13 - Emotional aspects of event learning in rats: Characterization and neural basis
(Project Heads
Fendt, Markus
;
Goldschmidt, Jürgen
)
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B14 - Interplay between the dopaminergic system and the extracellular matrix in neuroplasticity and aversive learning
(Project Heads
Dityatev, Ph.D., Alexander
;
Frischknecht, Renato
;
Seidenbecher, Constanze
)
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B15 - Searching for the engram at the proteome level
(Project Heads
Dieterich, Daniela C.
;
Yarali, Ayse
)
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B16 - Proteomanalytik und Massenspektrometrie
(Project Heads
Happel, Max Fabian
;
Jocham, Gerhard
)
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B17 - Processing spatial and non-spatial information during the retrieval of motivated memories
(Project Head
Sauvage, Magdalena
)
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MGK - Integrated Research Training Group
(Project Heads
Gerber, Bertram
;
Ohl, Frank W.
)
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Z01 - Proteom Analysis and Mass Spectrometry
(Project Heads
Kähne, Thilo
;
Naumann, Michael
)
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Z02 - Central Administration
(Project Head
Ohl, Frank W.
)
