Active Audition Lab

PD Dr. Michael Pecka

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Groupleader

Interim professorship Grothe

+49 89 2180-74340

PD Dr. Michael Pecka

Room B03.024

peckalab.com

Michael Pecka at GSN

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Our aim is to understand the neural processes underlying sensory perception and cognition during ethological decision-making (see scheme). We develop and utilize novel experimental paradigms and methods to identify network representations, brain states and defined behaviors during unrestricted self-motion.

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Understanding how specific behaviors arise from neural processing is a primary goal of neuroscience. However, many current techniques require minimalistic experimental conditions, which in turn limit their ecological / real-life relevance. Crucially, behaviors and the underlying neural processes evolved and adapted to a species’ ethological demands. Thus, a deep understanding of brain functions requires studying the brain "in natural action", i.e., during ethologically relevant behaviors. Active sensing , i.e., voluntary self-motion to gather information about the resulting changes in sensory inputs, represents a fundamental element of such behaviors (see scheme). Accordingly, we developed a behavioral paradigm (named SIT – Sensory Island Task, Ferreiro, Amaro et al., 2020) to study how the brain selectively processes sensory information of interest during active exploration of – and orientation in – the environment. SIT is particularly suited for studying sensory-based navigation and decision-making, but allows studying numerous aspects of naturalistic behavior during chronic brain recordings & neural modulations.

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Lately we also developed a SIT-based paradigm for use in human studies (Ferreiro et al., 2022; Malzacher et al., 2025), and we utilze Virtual Reality technology, mobile EEG and metacognitve monitoring to gain deeper insight into the neural and cognitive mechanisms of human perception and navigation during unrestricted behavior.

Publications:

Selected publications:

Malzacher A, Hilbig T, Pecka M, Ferreiro DN. Visual nudging of navigation strategies improves frequency discrimination during auditory-guided locomotion (2025) Front Neurosci. 19:1535759. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1535759.

Müller M., Hu H., Dietz M., Beiderbeck B., Ferreiro D.N., Pecka M., Temporal hyper-precision of brainstem neurons alters spatial sensitivity of binaural auditory processing with cochlear implants. (2023) Front Neurosci. 16:1021541. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1021541.

Amaro D., Ferreiro D.N., Grothe B., Pecka M. Source identity shapes spatial preference in primary auditory cortex during active navigation (2021) Current Biology https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.025

Beiderbeck B., Myoga M.H., Müller N., Callan A.R., Friauf E., Grothe B., Pecka M.° Precisely timed inhibition facilitates action potential firing for spatial coding in the auditory brainstem (2018) Nature Communications 2;9(1):1771; Shared senior authorship; °Corresponding author

Pecka M, Han Y, Sader E, Mrsic-Flogel TD*. Experience-Dependent Specialization of Receptive Field Surround for Selective Coding of Natural Scenes (2014) Neuron. 84:457-469 *Shared corresponding authorship

Full publication list here

News

July 4th, 2025

Tebrik ederim Gökçe!!!

Congratulations to Gökçe Dogu for finishing her Master thesis and graduating the GSN M.Sc.! For her thesis "Social Interactions of Mongolian Gerbils in a Perceptual Decision-Making Task", she established a social version of our SIT paradigm, in which one animal (“Expert”) knows the task and another (“Rookie”) does not. In doing so, Gökçe reversed the common question of whether social presence enhances task performance, instead asking how task-based asymmetries in experience affect social interactions and hierarchies. To this end, she developed or helped developing a sophisticated data acquisition and analysis pipeline including video tracking via SLEAP and DeepLabCut, supervised behavior classification via simBA, and ultrasonic vocalization analysis using USVSEG and USVCAM. Her most striking observation was the emergence of a coordinated behavior termed “Joint Foraging” casued by the knowledge asymmetry, in which the naïve gerbil (Rookie) almost invariably approached and synchronized movements with the experienced animal (Expert) during reward-seeking intervals, accompanied by a marked rise in vocalizations predominantly from the Rookie. Thus, her thesis provides robust evidence for the nuanced and flexible nature of gerbil social cognition, demonstrating how task-related knowledge and environmental contingencies shape social interactions and hierarchies. Gökçe will contiue investigating natural, unrestricted social behavior in rodents, as she will move on to do a PhD with the lab of Prof. Tobias Bonhoeffer at the MPI for Biological Intelligence. We are convinced that she will succeed brilliantly! Nonetheless, we are heartbroken to have to let her go after such a long time in our lab.. at least there is hope for many shared coffee breaks ;) All the best and a BIG thank you!!!

April 24th, 2025

New publication on visual nudging during SITh

Congrats Leni and Dardo for the lead on this publication! 10.3389/fnins.2025.1535759 Here we explored how attentional shifts influence multisensory integration during self-motion. Our results show that frequency discrimination thresholds improved by restricting visual input, suggesting that reducing visual interference can increase auditory sensitivity. This is consistent with adaptive behavioral theories, suggesting that individuals can dynamically adjust their perceptual strategies to leverage the most reliable sensory inputs. These findings contribute to a better understanding of multisensory integration, highlighting the flexibility of sensory systems in complex environments.