Reward Is Enough, or Is It Enough?

Support the show to get full episodes, full archive, and join the Discord community.

Mac and I discuss his systems level approach to understanding brains, and his theoretical work suggesting important roles for the thalamus, basal ganglia, and cerebellum, shifting the dynamical landscape of brain function within varying behavioral contexts. We also discuss his recent interest in the ascending arousal system and neuromodulators. Mac thinks the neocortex has been the sole focus of too much neuroscience research, and that the subcortical brain regions and circuits have a much larger role underlying our intelligence.

• Shine Lab
• Twitter: @jmacshine
• Related papers
  • The thalamus integrates the macrosystems of the brain to facilitate complex, adaptive brain network dynamics.
  • Computational models link cellular mechanisms of neuromodulation to large-scale neural dynamics.

0:00 - Intro 6:32 - Background 10:41 - Holistic approach 18:19 - Importance of thalamus 35:19 - Thalamus circuitry 40:30 - Cerebellum 46:15 - Predictive processing 49:32 - Brain as dynamical attractor landscape 56:48 - System 1 and system 2 1:02:38 - How to think about the thalamus 1:06:45 - Causality in complex systems 1:11:09 - Clinical applications 1:15:02 - Ascending arousal system and neuromodulators 1:27:48 - Implications for AI 1:33:40 - Career serendipity 1:35:12 - Advice