Attractor networks

10.1002/wcs.1 ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmund T. Rolls
Keyword(s):  
2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoqi Li ◽  
Kiruthika Ramanathan ◽  
Ning Ning ◽  
Luping Shi ◽  
Changyun Wen

As can be represented by neurons and their synaptic connections, attractor networks are widely believed to underlie biological memory systems and have been used extensively in recent years to model the storage and retrieval process of memory. In this paper, we propose a new energy function, which is nonnegative and attains zero values only at the desired memory patterns. An attractor network is designed based on the proposed energy function. It is shown that the desired memory patterns are stored as the stable equilibrium points of the attractor network. To retrieve a memory pattern, an initial stimulus input is presented to the network, and its states converge to one of stable equilibrium points. Consequently, the existence of the spurious points, that is, local maxima, saddle points, or other local minima which are undesired memory patterns, can be avoided. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.


2005 ◽  
Vol 65-66 ◽  
pp. 617-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas P. Trappenberg ◽  
Dominic I. Standage

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin A Bolding ◽  
Shivathmihai Nagappan ◽  
Bao-Xia Han ◽  
Fan Wang ◽  
Kevin M Franks

Pattern completion, or the ability to retrieve stable neural activity patterns from noisy or partial cues, is a fundamental feature of memory. Theoretical studies indicate that recurrently connected auto-associative or discrete attractor networks can perform this process. Although pattern completion and attractor dynamics have been observed in various recurrent neural circuits, the role recurrent circuitry plays in implementing these processes remains unclear. In recordings from head-fixed mice, we found that odor responses in olfactory bulb degrade under ketamine/xylazine anesthesia while responses immediately downstream, in piriform cortex, remain robust. Recurrent connections are required to stabilize cortical odor representations across states. Moreover, piriform odor representations exhibit attractor dynamics, both within and across trials, and these are also abolished when recurrent circuitry is eliminated. Here, we present converging evidence that recurrently-connected piriform populations stabilize sensory representations in response to degraded inputs, consistent with an auto-associative function for piriform cortex supported by recurrent circuitry.


2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1385-1412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter E. Latham ◽  
Sheila Nirenberg

Cortical neurons are predominantly excitatory and highly interconnected. In spite of this, the cortex is remarkably stable: normal brains do not exhibit the kind of runaway excitation one might expect of such a system. How does the cortex maintain stability in the face of this massive excitatory feedback? More importantly, how does it do so during computations, which necessarily involve elevated firing rates? Here we address these questions in the context of attractor networks—networks that exhibit multiple stable states, or memories. We find that such networks can be stabilized at the relatively low firing rates observed in vivo if two conditions are met: (1) the background state, where all neurons are firing at low rates, is inhibition dominated, and (2) the fraction of neurons involved in a memory is above some threshold, so that there is sufficient coupling between the memory neurons and the background. This allows “dynamical stabilization” of the attractors, meaning feedback from the pool of background neurons stabilizes what would otherwise be an unstable state. We suggest that dynamical stabilization may be a strategy used for a broad range of computations, not just those involving attractors.


1996 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. 479-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac Meilijson ◽  
Eytan Ruppin

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document