Zurna Ahmed

Neuroscientist · Medical Engineer

Publications

Peer-reviewed pre-registrations

F Ohmann, Z Ahmed, S Isbaner, S Eiteljörge, N Mani (2026). Exploration and learning during free play. doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/49P6Q Altmetric

S Venkatesan, N Mani, Z Ahmed (2026). The influence of inferred popularity on children's exploration. doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/UHDWJ Altmetric

Journal articles

N Shahidi, Z Ahmed, Y Badayeva, I Lacal, A Gail (2025). Freely foraging macaques value information in ambiguous terrains. Scientific Reports. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-32879-x Altmetric

R Vogg, M Nuske, M Weis, T Lüddecke, E Karakoç, Z Ahmed, SM Pereira, S Malaivijitnond, S Meesawat, F Wörgötter, PM Kappeler, A Gail, J Ostner, O Schülke, C Fichtel, AS Ecker (2024). PriMAT: A robust multi-animal tracking model for primates in the wild. bioRxiv. (in print in PLOS One) doi.org/10.1101/2024.08.21.607881 6 citations Altmetric

Z Ahmed, NS Agha, A Trunk, M Berger, A Gail (2022). Universal guide for skull extraction and custom-fitting of implants to continuous and discontinuous skulls. eNeuro. doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0028-22.2022 6 citations Altmetric

Peer-reviewed conference proceedings

P Sherpa, A Wunderlich, F Steigerwald, HS Lim, S Jeung, Z Ahmed, K Gramann (2026). Auditory oddball task during gait: a cross-system reproducibility assessment. MoBI 2026, berlin, germany. (in press)

C Silva, V Ivanov, Z Ahmed, I Lacal, A Gail, F Sinz (2025). An encoding model to study the sensorimotor cortex of freely-behaving monkeys. COSYNE, montreal, canada.

Other published conference abstracts

N Shahidi, Z Ahmed, Y Badayeva, I Lacal, A Gail (2024). Spatial pattern of macaques' solo and dyadic foraging in an experimentally controlled terrain. Journal of Computational Neuroscience.

M Nuske, R Vogg, Z Ahmed, A Gail, AS Ecker, F Wörgötter (2023). Joint tracking and classification model for behavioural analysis of freely moving primates. Bernstein conference, berlin, germany.

A Trende, Z Ahmed, S Meiser, G Ashida, J Kretzberg (2017). Which abstraction level to choose for the leech local bend network. Bernstein conference, göttingen, germany.

Unpublished conference posters

S Venkatesan, N Mani*, Z Ahmed* (2026). The influence of popularity on children's curiosity. LCICD, Lancaster, UK.

Z Ahmed, I Lacal, M Nuske, R Vogg, F Wörgötter, AS Ecker, A Gail (2025). Same Dynamics, Different Embeddings — Neural encoding of natural arm reaches in freely moving rhesus macaques. I-Move, Lübeck, Germany.

J Grunwald*, Z Ahmed*, I Lacal, A Nakahashi, J Hainke, A Gail (2025). Social Context shapes behavioral and neural dynamics of foraging and decision-making in freely moving rhesus macaques. Göttingen Cognition Forum, Göttingen, Germany.

J Grunwald*, Z Ahmed*, I Lacal, A Nakahashi, J Hainke, A Gail (2025). Social Context shapes behavioral and neural dynamics of foraging and decision-making in freely moving rhesus macaques. Primate Neurobiology Meeting, Göttingen, Germany.

J Hainke, Z Ahmed, I Lacal, J Grunwald, A Gail (2025). Estimation of head gazes in freely moving rhesus macaques. Primate Neurobiology Meeting, Göttingen, Germany.

I Lacal, Z Ahmed, A Gail (2025). Deciding while acting — the planning horizon of primate sensorimotor cortex. Primate Neurobiology Meeting, Göttingen, Germany.

J Grunwald*, Z Ahmed*, I Lacal, J Hainke, A Nakahashi, A Gail (2024). Social Context shapes behavioral dynamics of foraging and decision-making in freely moving rhesus macaques. Foraging and Information Seeking Conference, Lyon, France.

N Shahidi, Z Ahmed, Y Badayeva, R Burghardt, I Lacal (2024). Freely foraging macaques value information in ambiguous terrain. Foraging and Information Seeking Conference, Lyon, France.

Z Ahmed, I Lacal, M Nuske, R Vogg, N Shahidi, F Wörgötter, AS Ecker, A Gail (2024). Neural correlates of complex arm reaches during different full-body contexts in freely moving rhesus macaques. NCM, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

I Lacal, Z Ahmed, A Gail (2024). Neural dynamics of sensorimotor decision-making in freely walking rhesus macaques. NCM, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Z Ahmed, I Lacal, A Nakahashi, A Gail (2024). Change in the foraging strategies in freely moving rhesus monkey dyads. Society for Social Neuroscience, Tsukuba, Japan.

Z Ahmed, I Lacal, M Nuske, R Vogg, F Wörgötter, AS Ecker, A Gail (2023). Full-body actions beyond walking: the Playground Experiment for free solo and dyadic foraging combined with FairMOT-based action classification in rhesus macaques. SfN, San Diego, USA.

Z Ahmed, I Lacal, M Nuske, R Vogg, F Wörgötter, AS Ecker, A Gail (2023). The Playground Experiment for free solo and dyadic foraging in rhesus macaques. SimianCollective, Chicago, USA.

N Shahidi, Z Ahmed, Y Badayeva, R Burghardt, I Lacal, A Gail (2023). Spatial pattern of macaques' solo and dyadic foraging in an experimentally controlled terrain. Primate Neurobiology Conference, Göttingen, Germany.

Z Ahmed, A Gail (2019). Neural correlates of action effect anticipation. Summerschool for Primate Cognitive Neuroscience, Bad Bevensen, Germany.

Z Ahmed, N Agha, A Trunk, M Berger, A Gail (2019). Universal guide for skull extraction and custom-fitting of implants to continuous and discontinuous skulls. Primate Neurobiology Conference, Göttingen, Germany.

D Gonschorek, Z Ahmed, J Kreuzberg (2017). Electrophysiology and computational modelling of leech Retzius cells. Bernstein Conference, Göttingen, Germany.