Differential modulation of aversive signaling by expectation across the cingulate cortex.

ABSTRACT: Pain-related aversion is an affective-motivational state driven by sensory experience that promotes learning and recruits widespread cortical networks, yet how distinct cingulate subregions contribute to its adaptive utility remains poorly understood. Here we used longitudinal one-photon calcium imaging in mice to compare dynamics in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and retrosplenial cortex (RSC) across repeated unsignaled foot-shocks and fear conditioning and extinction paradigm. Both regions contained relatively stable ensembles that responded robustly to shocks, indicating shared encoding of acute nociceptive events. However, only the RSC flexibly reorganized its population activity when shocks were preceded by predictive cues. These anticipatory dynamics in the RSC predicted the rat

SUBMITTER: Rogers SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12803200 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature