Reward prediction error

Recent articles

Book cover of What Is Intelligence.

‘What Is Intelligence?’: An excerpt

In his new book, published today, Blaise Agüera y Arcas examines the fundamental aspects of intelligence in biological and artificial systems. In this excerpt from Chapter 4, he examines temporal difference, a reinforcement learning algorithm.

By Blaise Agüera y Arcas
23 September 2025 | 9 min read

Vijay Namboodiri and Ali Mohebi on the evolving story of dopamine’s role in cognitive function

Researchers discuss the classic stories of dopamine’s role in learning, ongoing work linking it to a wide variety of cognitive functions, and recent research suggesting that dopamine may help us "look back" to discover the causes of events in the world.

By Paul Middlebrooks
27 September 2024 | 97 min listen

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of an open journal featuring lines of text and small illustrations of eyes and mouths.

Autism-linked genes alter sleep behavior, and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 13 April.

By Jill Adams
14 April 2026 | 2 min read
Illustration of a monkey pushing a button.

This paper changed my life: Erin Calipari ponders the nuances of rewarding and aversive stimuli

A 1960s study by Kelleher and Morse found that lever pressing in squirrel monkeys depended not on whether they received a reward or shock, but on the rules of the task. This taught Calipari to think deeply about factors that influence how behavior is generated and maintained.

By Erin Calipari
14 April 2026 | 5 min read
Illustration of a sheet of paper with a topography map-like pattern on it.

Why neural foundation models work, and what they might—and might not—teach us about the brain

These models can partly generalize across species, brain regions and tasks, suggesting that a set of machine-learnable rules govern neural population activity. But will we be able to understand them?

By Juan Gallego
13 April 2026 | 8 min read