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

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

By Erin Calipari

14 April 2026 | 5 min read

NeuroAI

By Juan Gallego

13 April 2026

8 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?

NeuroAI

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