Reward prediction error

Recent articles

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

Peggy Mason at her desk.

Up and out with Peggy Mason

Mason helped define the rodent prosocial behavior field, but now she’s changing course.

By Sydney Wyatt
15 August 2025 | 13 min read
Illustration of people walking over colored circles on the ground.

The spectrum goes multidimensional in search of autism subtypes

Grouping people with autism based on shared features, genetics and co-occurring conditions may improve clinical trial outcomes, researchers say.

By Katie Moisse
14 August 2025 | 9 min listen
A crumpled fly.

Exclusive: Harvard University lays off fly database team

The layoffs jeopardize this resource, which has served more than 4,000 labs for about three decades.

By Claudia López Lloreda
13 August 2025 | 5 min listen