We can learn new information and are subsequently able to remember it. However, we are equally able to learn that once acquired information is no longer valid and cease to respond to it. While the initial process of acquisition of new knowledge is well studied, the process of extinction is far less understood. It is known that extinction involves a new learning process that is different and more complex than the initial acquisition of the CS-US-association. Extinguished responses do not disappear but can return following manipulations such as a change in context as in renewal paradigms. Within the scope of the Research Unit that is going to start working on 1st of January 2011, 8 labs from the universities of Bochum, Essen-Duisburg and Marburg plan to explore the neural, the behavioral, and the clinical mechanisms of extinction in various species, incl. humans. Using a highly interactive research strategy, they intend to harvest deep insights into both the common and the distinct mechanisms of extinction learning in different systems and organisms. By this, there is good hope to achieve translational insights between Basic and Clinical Science. Onur Güntürkün is the speaker of the Research Unit.