Old-school AI research mapped RL concepts to brain neuromodulators — and explained depression via value discounting

fleetwood___ · x · 2026-11-01

The poster reminisces that "AI researchers were so much smarter in the old days," sharing early research that mapped reinforcement learning concepts onto different neuromodulators in the brain — and even used value discounting to explain depression. A wistful, half-joking nod to the boldness of classic RL-neuroscience crossover work.

Original post →

Old-school AI research mapped RL concepts to brain neuromodulators — and explained depression via value discounting

More from Fun