🚀 go-pugleaf

herwin@mason1.gmu.edu (HARRY R. ERWIN) writes:

>It has been suggested by a number of workers (Hebb, Marr, Carpenter, and
>Grossberg) that the brain supports autoassociative systems. It has been
>pointed out to me that given one way the neuron functions (typically by
>detecting synchronization), an autoassociative network involves the
>creation of short-term coherent states. Those can be easily read by
>sampling techniques. Hence it is an easy evolutionary step from a system
>of cooperating autoassociators to a system of 'antennae', with known
>objects corresponding to coherent states in each antenna. If the
>coherent states can be generated fast enough, such a system requires
>much less connectivity than the autoassociator system. Who has been
>working in this direction?

Sounds similar to the resonances for copying spatiotemporal patterns that 
I emphasize in CONVERSASTIONS WITH NEIL'S BRAIN, last chapter.  There's a 
slightly different take on the subject in my Scientific American article
that'll be out in October.
    William H. Calvin   WCalvin@U.Washington.edu
    University of Washington  NJ-15
    Seattle WA 98195 USA     fax +1(206)720-1989