BI 221 Ann Kennedy: Theory Beneath the Cortical Surface

Ann Kennedy on the theoretical neuroscience of subcortical activity for life and survival.

Show notes: https://braininspired.co/podcast/221/

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Ann Kennedy is Associate Professor at Scripps Research Institute and runs the Laboratory for Theoretical Neuroscience and Behavior.
Among other things, Ann has been studying how life processes important for survival, like aggression, motivation, and pain, are mediated through subcortical brain areas like the hypothalamus. She also pays attention to the time course those life processes require, which has led her to consider how the expression of things like proteins help shape neural processes throughout the brain, so we can behave appropriately in those different contexts, threat, pain, and so on.

0:00 - Intro
3:36 - Why study subcortical areas?
13:30 - Evolution
15:06 - Dynamical systems and time scales
21:32 - NeuroAI
28:37 - Before there were brains
33:11 - Endogenous spontaneous activity
40:09 - Natural vs artificial
43:09 - Different is more - heterogeneity
45:32 - Neuromodulators and neuropeptide functions
55:47 - Heterogeneity: manifolds, subspaces, and gain
1:02:43 - Control knobs
1:09:45 - Theoretical neuroscience has room to grow
1:19:59 - Hypothalamus
1:20:57 - Subcortical vs "higher" cognition
1:24:53 - 4E cognition
1:26:56 - Behavior benchmarking
1:37:26 - Current challenges
1:39:46 - Advice to young researchers