DeepMind Discovers AI Training Technique That May Also Work In Our Brains

DeepMind just recently published a paper detailing how a newly developed type of reinforcement learning could potentially explain how reward pathways within the human brain operate. As reported by NewScientist, the machine learning training method is called distributional reinforcement learning and the mechanisms behind it seem to plausibly explain how dopamine is released by neurons within the brain. Neuroscience and computer science have a long history together. As far back as 1951, Marvin Minksy used a system of rewards and punishments to create a computer program capable of solving a maze. Minksy was inspired by the work of Ivan Pavlov, a physiologist who demonstrated that dogs could learn through a series of rewards and punishments.