Avian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference 2026

01.10.2026

Program:
Thursday, October 01

08:45 - Registration
09:15 - Welcome
09:20 - Session 1

• Early attention to the motion of living agents indomestic chicks (Orsola Rosa Salva)
• Physiology as a window into avian social cognition (Jelena Katic)
• Social Cognition in Birds: An Overview (Axel Emanuel Casas)

11:05 - Coffee break
11:20 - Session 2

• The role of stimuli on representations and performance in pigeon working memory (Roland Pusch)
• Neural recordings of color working memory in jackdaws (Farina Lingstädt)

12:15 - Lunch & Posters
13:55 - Keynote Lecture:

• The endothermic brain hypothesis - and possible ways to test it (Mathias Overath)

14:55 - Coffee break
15:10 - Session 3

• Investigating vicarious trial- and error in archosaurs (Lona Lalić)
• Context then, context now – Understanding learning dynamics of stimuli during extinction (Robert Willma)
• Re-conceptualizing context in extinction learning (Juan Medina Peschken)

16:15 - Coffee break
16:30 - Session 4

• A global screen for magnetically induced neuronal activity in the pigeon brain (Spencer Balay)
• Invariant object recognition across pigeons and corvids (Annika Verfers)

17:15 - Discussion:

• A motor perspective on avian vision (Jonas Rose)

18:30 - Dinner @ Q-West (self paying)
18:00 - Joint walk to Q-West

Friday, October 02

09:00 - Session 5

• Beyond birdsong: Neural circuits for call interactions in zebra finches (Jonathan Benichov)
• Syllable repetition reveals links between distinct phrases in birdsong (Priya Binwal)
• Abstract representations of spatial sequences in jackdaws (Sara Santos Silva)

10:25 - Coffee break & Posters
12:00 - Keynote Lecture:

• Evolution of neuron numbers in birds (Pavel Němec)

12:55 - Farewell & Poster Price
13:10 - End / Lab Tours

Venue:
ProDi, Gesundheitscampus, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany