Final chance to submit an abstract for this year's EBPS workshop on punishment in Amsterdam (Aug 25-26)! ebps2026.azuleon.org

5 tenure-track positions up for grabs at UNSW Sydney School of Psych: General x2 shorturl.at/0lptm Perception shorturl.at/l5Agk Stats shorturl.at/4W5pg Education-focused shorturl.at/Yn4R6

Recent paper from lab looking at how phenotypic differences in punishment avoidance relate to cFos patterns across the PFC. doi.org/10.1016/j.nl... Replicates previous behavioural work, with additional aversion-resistant phenotype. Interesting network-level findings from analyses led by Min Lou

New article out in @natcomms.nature.com Reference-point dependent reinforcement learning in humans and rats By Lachlan Ferguson, Magda Soukupova (co-first), Seb Bouret, me and Shauna Parkes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

My PhD work on how lateral septum cells and circuits process threat cues to guide defensive actions is now online at @nature.com rdcu.be/fjNgT w/ @gordfishell.bsky.social and others

Feature-specific threat coding in lateral septum guides defensive action - Nature

The populations of CRHR2-expressing neurons in the lateral septum of mice involved in threat-related behaviour in response to environmental challenges are defined.

nature.com

Excited to share our new paper: We uncover a locus coeruleus→amygdala circuit linking β-adrenergic signaling to transcription regulation in defined amygdala cells during memory reconsolidation—+ stress or elevated noradrenergic signaling at recall can strengthen memory. www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...

A neuromodulatory circuit-to-molecular pathway for reformatting aversive memories during recall

Tan et al. identify a neuromodulatory circuit-to-molecular pathway in rats that updates aversive memories when they are recalled. Noradrenaline from the locus coeruleus triggers synapse-to-nuclear tra...

cell.com

Check out our latest paper on choice between alcohol and social reward in rats

SfN Journals@sfnjournals.bsky.social · 5mo ago

New in #JNeurosci: Rat study from van Mourik et al. suggests that the anterior insula may be involved in biasing decision-making processes to favor alcohol over social rewards. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1180-25.2026

Striatal cholinergic interneurons boost dopamine release upon receiving a reward obtained after prolonged effort 🤩 This presynaptic boost would confer increased value on rewards obtained through effort, thus explaining the continuation of this effort to obtain more www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New paper from lab on how VTA dopamine neurons + GABA inhibition contribute to punishment learning. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Disinhibition of ventral tegmental area during initial punishment learning causes enduring punishment insensitivity - Neuropsychopharmacology

Neuropsychopharmacology - Disinhibition of ventral tegmental area during initial punishment learning causes enduring punishment insensitivity

nature.com

Come join us in Cape Town, South Africa to talk with behavioral neuroscientists from around the world. Submit your abstracts and register today! Abstract submission closes 2/20/26. ibnsconnect.org/meetings

A major part of our future health & prosperity lies in medical research. There are billions of available dollars that can be used for vital medical science. Please join the campaign for our government to act urgently to fully disperse these funds: aamri.org.au/mrff/ www.theage.com.au/politics/fed...

Most researchers miss out on innovation grants while medical fund sits on $25b

Nine in 10 Australian researchers had their “ideas grant” applications rejected last year, even as Australia’s medical investment fund sits on $5 billion more than it was designed to hold.

theage.com.au

🎇 Excited to finally share JL Romero Sosa’s publication! Results are from single-cell imaging in different subregions of rat frontal cortex during ✨de novo learning. Spoiler: everything is not everywhere all at once www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Neural coding of choice and outcome are modulated by uncertainty in orbitofrontal but not secondary motor cortex - Nature Communications

Neural mechanisms underlying flexible learning and decision-making are not fully understood. Using single-cell calcium imaging, authors here found that neurons in orbitofrontal and secondary motor cortex exhibit complementary roles in reward learning, with neurons in the former exerting a sustained role in conditions of uncertainty.

nature.com

Are you and your colleagues interested in creating a symposium for our IBNS conference in South Africa? Submissions are less than a month away and we would love to hear your work! Call for symposia deadline is October 28th and to submit go to www.ibnsconnect.org/meetings #IBNSSouthAfrica

Benchmarks for Associative Learning Models: https://osf.io/qsgz8

Symposia / Satellite Proposals open for IBNS 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa! ibns.memberclicks.net/meetings

a little Behind-the-Paper from @lilithzeng.bsky.social and i communities.springernature.com/posts/why-do...

Why don’t some of us learn from punishment?

Individuals differ drastically in whether they will cease actions with negative consequences. Using a specially-designed task, we explore the psychological roots for these differences, its stability a...

communities.springernature.com

Cheers for the write-up @UNSW Newsroom & Lachlan Gilbert www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/new...

Knowing better, doing worse: the science behind self-sabotaging behaviour

UNSW researchers uncover why some people persist in harmful behaviours – even when they’ve been shown where they’re going wrong.

unsw.edu.au

Stoked to share our new paper examining why people differ so much in avoiding harm www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Causal inference and cognitive-behavioral integration deficits drive stable variation in human punishment sensitivity - Communications Psychology

Using a gamified punishment task, this study identifies specific learning and decision-making deficits that drive robust, consequential differences in choice within an international, general populatio...

nature.com

We created a photometry python package for unbiased standardised post-hoc analysis using bootstrapping confidence intervals No more AUC or time bins analysis! Ever Follow our simple step by step instructions. @foldi.bsky.social @philjrdb.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We have outlined issues with typical pre-processing steps for fibre photometry analysis. doi.org/10.1117/1.NP... Main: standard linear fitting of isosbestic to experimental signals = BAD! IRLS is conceptually+demonstrably better. Lots discussed in paper. Code posted at github.com/philjrdb/Reg...

Have been away from social media, which has been nice. But figure I really should post some updates about what the lab has been up to. Posts incoming.