Anila D’Mello is an assistant professor and Jon Heighten Scholar in Autism Research in the Department of Psychiatry and O’Donnell Brain Institute at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas.
Anila D’Mello
Assistant professor
University of Texas Southwestern
From this contributor
How scientists can counteract their unwitting contributions to autism’s sex bias
Common diagnostic and research practices may be adding to autism’s sex bias, but there are some simple steps scientists can take to counteract it.
How scientists can counteract their unwitting contributions to autism’s sex bias
By
Anila D’Mello
20 December 2022 | 7 min read
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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.
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.
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14 April 2026 | 5 min read
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?
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?
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Juan Gallego
13 April 2026 | 8 min read