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Here, we report that neuronal tuning changes during learning were not distributed equally in the recorded population of NCL neurons. Instead, such learning-related changes relied almost exclusively on neurons which were already encoding familiar associations. Only in such neurons did behavioral improvements during learning of novel associations coincide with increasing selectivity over the learning process. The size and direction of selectivity for familiar and newly learned associations were highly correlated. These increases in selectivity for novel associations occurred only late in the delay period. Moreover, NCL neurons discriminated correct from erroneous trial outcome based on feedback signals at the end of the trial, particularly in newly learned associations. Our results indicate that task-relevant changes during association learning are not distributed within the population of corvid NCL neurons but rather are restricted to a specific group of association-selective neurons. Such association neurons in the multimodal cognitive integration area NCL likely play an important role during highly flexible behavior in corvids.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1162\/jocn_a_01152","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,30]],"date-time":"2017-05-30T16:13:37Z","timestamp":1496160817000},"page":"1712-1724","update-policy":"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1162\/mitpressjournals.corrections.policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Learning Recruits Neurons Representing Previously Established Associations in the Corvid Endbrain"],"prefix":"10.1162","volume":"29","author":[{"given":"Lena","family":"Veit","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of T\u00fcbingen"}]},{"given":"Galyna","family":"Pidpruzhnykova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of T\u00fcbingen"}]},{"given":"Andreas","family":"Nieder","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of T\u00fcbingen"}]}],"member":"281","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,10,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"2021073021123828500_R1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1399","DOI":"10.1016\/S0896-6273(00)80658-3","article-title":"Neural activity in the primate prefrontal cortex during associative learning","volume":"21","author":"Asaad","year":"1998","journal-title":"Neuron"},{"key":"2021073021123828500_R2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"576","DOI":"10.1038\/nn.3954","article-title":"Frequency-specific hippocampal-prefrontal interactions during associative learning","volume":"18","author":"Brincat","year":"2015","journal-title":"Nature Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021073021123828500_R3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9739","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.0274-16.2016","article-title":"Prefrontal cortex networks shift from external to internal modes during learning","volume":"36","author":"Brincat","year":"2016","journal-title":"Journal of Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021073021123828500_R4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1140","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuron.2014.01.008","article-title":"Contributions of orbitofrontal and lateral prefrontal cortices to economic choice and the good-to-action transformation","volume":"81","author":"Cai","year":"2014","journal-title":"Neuron"},{"key":"2021073021123828500_R5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1101","DOI":"10.1152\/jn.1995.73.3.1101","article-title":"Neuronal activity in the supplementary eye field during acquisition of conditional oculomotor associations","volume":"73","author":"Chen","year":"1995","journal-title":"Journal of Neurophysiology"},{"key":"2021073021123828500_R6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1330","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuron.2015.04.024","article-title":"Avian models for human cognitive neuroscience: A proposal","volume":"86","author":"Clayton","year":"2015","journal-title":"Neuron"},{"key":"2021073021123828500_R7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1823","DOI":"10.1162\/jocn.2010.21555","article-title":"Rapid association learning in the primate prefrontal cortex in the absence of behavioral reversals","volume":"23","author":"Cromer","year":"2011","journal-title":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021073021123828500_R8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7827","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1504245112","article-title":"Neurons selective to the number of visual items in the corvid songbird endbrain","volume":"112","author":"Ditz","year":"2015","journal-title":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A."},{"key":"2021073021123828500_R9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12044","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.1521-16.2016","article-title":"Sensory and working memory representations of small and large numerosities in the crow endbrain","volume":"36","author":"Ditz","year":"2016","journal-title":"Journal of Neuroscience"},{"key":"2021073021123828500_R10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"365","DOI":"10.1016\/0006-8993(85)90606-7","article-title":"The prefrontal \u201ccortex\u201d in the pigeon. 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