The Transmitter

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Last Notes

2026-04-27 13:22:13 UTC

Prediction without understanding sustained astronomy through a thousand years of epicycles, writes Anthony Zador. AI is now offering neuroscience the same deal.
https://www.thetransmitter.org/machine-learning/can-ai-do-neuroscience-without-understanding/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=org-social&utm_campaign=20260427-perspectives-can-AI-do-neuroscience-without-understanding
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/476/879/122/478/206/original/d70fb389559883a1.png

2026-04-20 13:22:07 UTC

By designing decision-making tasks that vary along multiple dimensions and truly challenge our animals, we might finally understand how multiple brain areas coordinate to drive decisions, writes Chand Chandrasekaran.
https://www.thetransmitter.org/decision-making/to-understand-decision-making-we-need-to-truly-challenge-lab-animals/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=org-social&utm_campaign=20260420-perspectives-to-understand-decision-making-challenge-lab-animals
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/437/242/620/903/414/original/63fc5c1bf358363d.png

2025-09-05 13:35:44 UTC

In this "Big picture" debate, @npub1583…dgxr explores the controversy around the terminology used to characterize emotions—and invites 13 experts to chime in.
https://www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-picture/emotion-research-has-a-communication-conundrum/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=org-social&utm_campaign=20250905-perspectives-big-pic-emotion-research-com-conundrum

2024-12-13 12:12:01 UTC

Neuroscience textbooks can be prohibitively expensive for some undergraduate students. A new open-access alternative seeks to change that. Francisco J. Rivera Rosario sat down for a Q&A with Liz Kirby to discuss open-access neuroscience in the classroom.
https://www.thetransmitter.org/books/open-access-neuroscience-comes-to-the-classroom-qa-with-liz-kirby/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=org-social&utm_campaign=20411213-q&a-liz-kirby

2024-10-09 15:02:34 UTC

Unlike the primary sensory brain areas that process sights and sounds, the one that decodes scents also responds to other stimuli, such as images and words associated with an odor, according to a study published today in Nature.
By Angie Voyles Askham
https://www.thetransmitter.org/sensory-systems/double-duty-neurons-in-primary-olfactory-cortex-pick-up-on-more-than-just-scent/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=org-social&utm_campaign=20241009-double-duty-neurons-olafactory-cortex

2024-09-13 13:21:04 UTC

Some experimental findings are inconsistent with the dominant model of reward prediction error, highlighting the need for alternative testable and falsifiable models for dopamine function. Vijay Namboodiri explains: https://www.thetransmitter.org/dopamine/dopamine-and-the-need-for-alternative-theories/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=org-social&utm_campaign=20240913-alternative-theories