Locus of control: How the brain gives up when failure is taken for granted

Abstract

After repeatedly failing to get out of a stressful, uncontrollable environment, mice switch from escape behavior to inactivity. In this issue of Neuron, Li etal. identify a circuit involving noradrenergic projections from the locus coeruleus to GABAergic projection neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex that participate in this adaptive behavior.