Brain Architecture of Punishment Learning.
Overview
Abstract
Learning from punishment allows animals to suppress actions that produce adverse consequences while maintaining other rewarded behaviors. However, the brain mechanisms of this learning are poorly understood. Here, we combined instrumental behavioral analysis, whole-brain Fos mapping, spatial transcriptomics, computational network analysis, and chemogenetic inhibition in male and female mice. A within-subject yoking procedure showed that suppression depended on the instrumental response–punisher contingency rather than matched shock exposure or embedded pavlovian stimulus–shock relations. Whole-brain Fos network analysis showed marked reorganization of brain-wide Fos correlation structure after punishment learning. Punishment preserved modular, small-world organization characteristic of brain networks while reallocating regional community membership and increasing the centrality of the basolateral amygdala (BLA), zona incerta (ZI), and midbrain tegmentum. Spatial transcriptomics within these regions identified punishment-associated transcriptional programs in BLA glutamatergic neurons, ZI GABAergic neurons, and multiple ventral midbrain GABAergic and dopaminergic populations. In silico deletion predicted that the BLA, ZI, and rostral linear nucleus jointly support punishment learning. Consistent with this, multisite chemogenetic inhibition of these regions impaired punishment learning. Single-region inhibition revealed dissociable contributions of BLA and ZI to within-session and between-session retention of punishment learning. Together, these findings show that punishment learning is supported by a brain network that enables animals to selectively suppress actions that produce adverse consequences.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Code
The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.
Tracing map
A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none, so it has no map.
Data
Datasets cited
Versions
The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.
Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 8 authors, 6 keywords, 8 MeSH terms, 2 funders, 48 references, 2 RRIDs.
Cite
This paper
Gregory, A. V., Diefenbach, J., Choi, E. A., Soo, J., Chen, J., Killcross, A. S., Jean-Richard-dit-Bressel
BibTeX
@article{gregory2026brai
author = {Gregory, Alexandra V and Diefenbach, James and Choi, Eun A and Soo, Jason and Chen, Jessica and Killcross, A Simon and Jean-Richard-dit-Bressel
title = {{Brain Architecture of Punishment Learning}},
journal = {The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
volume = {46},
number = {35},
pages = {e0925262026},
publisher = {Society for Neuroscience},
issn = {0270-6474},
doi = {10.1523/
url = {https://
pmid = {42575705},
pmcid = {PMC13540610}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Gregory, Alexandra V
AU - Diefenbach, James
AU - Choi, Eun A
AU - Soo, Jason
AU - Chen, Jessica
AU - Killcross, A Simon
AU - Jean-Richard-dit-Bressel
AU - McNally, Gavan P
TI - Brain Architecture of Punishment Learning
T2 - The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
J2 - J Neurosci
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 46
IS - 35
SP - e0925262026
SN - 0270-6474
PB - Society for Neuroscience
DO - 10.1523/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
{
"id": "10.1523/
"type": "article-journal",
"title": "Brain Architecture of Punishment Learning",
"container-title": "The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience",
"author": [
{
"family": "Gregory",
"given": "Alexandra V"
},
{
"family": "Diefenbach",
"given": "James"
},
{
"family": "Choi",
"given": "Eun A"
},
{
"family": "Soo",
"given": "Jason"
},
{
"family": "Chen",
"given": "Jessica"
},
{
"family": "Killcross",
"given": "A Simon"
},
{
"family": "Jean-Richard-dit-Bresse
"given": "Philip"
},
{
"family": "McNally",
"given": "Gavan P"
}
],
"container-title-short":
"volume": "46",
"issue": "35",
"page": "e0925262026",
"DOI": "10.1523/
"PMID": "42575705",
"PMCID": "PMC13540610",
"ISSN": "0270-6474",
"publisher": "Society for Neuroscience",
"URL": "https://
"language": "en",
"issued": {
"date-parts": [
[
2026,
9,
2
]
]
}
}
Similar papers
The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.
- [1] doi:10.1007/s00429-026-03146-0 [code]
- Efferent projections of topographically distinct relaxin family peptide receptor-3 (RXFP3) lateral hypothalamus/
zona incerta cells. Journal: Brain structure & functionIn common: mouse, 4 references - [2] doi:10.1038/s41467-026-75959-w [code]
- Charting higher-order models of brain function beyond pairwise interactions.Journal: Nature communicationsIn common: 5 references
- [3] doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0339570
- Genetic control of dynamic brain network reconfiguration during working memory.Journal: PloS oneIn common: 4 references
- [4] doi:10.1038/s42003-026-10751-6 [code]
- Frequency-specific cortical subnetworks support fast human swallowing.Journal: Communications biologyIn common: systems, 3 references
- [5] doi:10.1038/s41467-026-73476-4 [code]
- Developmental molecular signatures define de novo cortico-brainstem circuit for skilled forelimb movement.Journal: Nature communicationsIn common: mouse, 2 references
- [6] doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02315-y [code]
- The representational geometry of emotional states in basolateral amygdala.Journal: Nature neuroscienceIn common: mouse, 2 references
- [7] doi:10.1126/sciadv.aeg2327
- Top-down corticostriatal control of adaptive restraint during motivational conflict.Journal: Science advancesIn common: systems, 2 references
- [8] doi:10.1126/sciadv.aeb3005 [code]
- Neural competition between prefrontal and auditory cortex constrains novel sound strategy learning.Journal: Science advancesIn common: mouse, 2 references
- [9] doi:10.1162/netn.a.544 [code]
- Brain network reconfiguration during reward prediction error processing.Journal: Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)In common: 3 references
- [10] doi:10.1162/netn.a.570 [code]
- Higher-order statistics for constructing centered edge functional connectivity.Journal: Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)In common: systems, 2 references
Contribute
The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.
Sign in with ORCID to claim this paper as one of its authors, correct its record or validate its tracing map: when the paper's metadata lists your ORCID iD, you are recognized at once. Maintainers of its code: sign in with GitHub, then claim the repository on your account page.
Claim this paper
Correct its record
Say what each link of this record is, remove the ones that are not the paper's, add the ones that are missing. The correction becomes a new version of the record, in its Versions section.
Request its removal
To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).
Discussion, reproductions, activity
Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.
Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.
Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.