Ann Kennedy

Ann Kennedy, Associate Professor at Scripps Research and head of the Laboratory for Theoretical Neuroscience and Behavior, dives into the intriguing world of subcortical brain systems. She discusses how survival, threat response, and motivation are managed by these ancient circuits, even without cortical input. Ann emphasizes the importance of neural diversity for effective computation and explores how neuromodulatory signals shape behavior. Highlighting her innovative Kaggle competition, she also bridges behavioral analysis with theoretical neuroscience, connecting fundamental biology to advanced AI.