#BrainRewardCenter Tracks Not Just WHAT, But WHEN #Rewards Arrive & #AI-#Neuro-Synergy: The brain’s #VentralTegmentalArea (VTA) encodes not only the value of #AnticipatedRewards, but also the precise timing of when those rewards are expected. Long known for its role in producing #Dopamine and guiding #RewardPrediction, the VTA is now shown to process #RewardExpectations on #MultipleTimeScales. This finer-grained #TemporalEncoding gives the brain greater flexibility in #DecisionMaking & #Learning, A #MachineLearningAlgorithm helped reveal this fine-tuned dopamine signal, showing how #AI can illuminate brain function. neurosciencenews.com/vta-dop… via @neurosciencenew

Congrats to my PhD students @linamaes & NoraLinscheid for their paper revitalizing the study of #LandAtmosphereInteractions on #MultipleTimeScales. With Alex Brenning Nuno Carvalhais Felix Cremer Fabian Gans @anjarammig @Reichstein_BGC and Carlos Sierra using @EarthSysDataLab