Beyond revenge: Neural and genetic bases of altruistic punishment

►Brain reward areas have been implicated in altruistic punishment in direct exchanges. ►Here, we show that reward areas are activated even during third party punishment. ►Moreover, this activation was influenced by genetic variation of dopamine turnover. ►Other regions related to cognitive-affective processing showed activation as well. ►This highlights the interplay of cognition, affect and motivation in altruistic acts.