 Abstract animals can expect rewards or punishments depending on the situation they are in. In certain situations, the lateral hypothalamus, LH, produces signals related to reward and punishment. However, when the situation is ambiguous, the LH produces different signals for reward and punishment. This suggests that the LH is able to encode both reward and punishment information in ambiguous situations. Furthermore, the LH also encodes contextual information, such as rewarding unrewarding and reward punishment valences, which allows animals to make decisions based on their environment. This article was authored by Atsushi Noritake and Kanokamura.