Many thanks to Mark Howe and all colleagues who contributed to this work! 🙏

This reveals how the brain balances learning vs unlearning! But how do these ACh “unlearning “signals emerge? well it takes two (ACh and DA) to tango! Many more details in the Paper!

When we silenced ACh in this region, extinction was impaired, demonstrating the role of ACh elevations in down-regulating cue-reward associations.

We identified precise topographic organization of ACh release, with the anterior dorsal striatum as the key hub for this learning/extinction switch.

Key finding: ACh dips during cue-reward associations ("that bell means treats - learn this!") while ACh elevations emerge when cues lose their predictive value ("bell but no treats anymore - forget this association!").

We mapped striatum-wide acetylcholine dynamics and investigated how ACh release evolves during Pavlovian learning and extinction.