Place cells may simply be memory cells: Memory compression leads to spatial tuning and history dependence

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (51) ◽  
pp. e2018422118
Author(s):  
Marcus K. Benna ◽  
Stefano Fusi

The observation of place cells has suggested that the hippocampus plays a special role in encoding spatial information. However, place cell responses are modulated by several nonspatial variables and reported to be rather unstable. Here, we propose a memory model of the hippocampus that provides an interpretation of place cells consistent with these observations. We hypothesize that the hippocampus is a memory device that takes advantage of the correlations between sensory experiences to generate compressed representations of the episodes that are stored in memory. A simple neural network model that can efficiently compress information naturally produces place cells that are similar to those observed in experiments. It predicts that the activity of these cells is variable and that the fluctuations of the place fields encode information about the recent history of sensory experiences. Place cells may simply be a consequence of a memory compression process implemented in the hippocampus.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus K. Benna ◽  
Stefano Fusi

The observation of place cells has suggested that the hippocampus plays a special role in encoding spatial information. However, place cell responses are modulated by several non-spatial variables, and reported to be rather unstable. Here we propose a memory model of the hippocampus that provides a novel interpretation of place cells consistent with these observations. We hypothesize that the hippocampus is a memory device that takes advantage of the correlations between sensory experiences to generate compressed representations of the episodes that are stored in memory. A simple neural network model that can efficiently compress information naturally produces place cells that are similar to those observed in experiments. It predicts that the activity of these cells is variable and that the fluctuations of the place fields encode information about the recent history of sensory experiences. Place cells may simply be a consequence of a memory compression process implemented in the hippocampus.Significance StatementNumerous studies on humans revealed the importance of the hippocampus in memory formation. The rodent literature instead focused on the spatial representations that are observed in navigation experiments. Here we propose a simple model of the hippocampus that reconciles the main findings of the human and rodent studies. The model assumes that the hippocampus is a memory system that generates compressed representations of sensory experiences using previously acquired knowledge about the statistics of the world. These experiences can then be memorized more efficiently. The sensory experiences during the exploration of an environment, when compressed by the hippocampus, lead naturally to spatial representations similar to those observed in rodent studies and to the emergence of place cells.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 120-124
Author(s):  
Latofat Tajibayeva ◽  

This article discusses the importance of Furkat's work in the semantic renewal of classical literature. Furkat's work, which played a special role in the development of enlightenment literature, has a strong place in the history of culture in the second half of the XIX century and the beginning of the XX century. Critical thinking prevailed in the poet's lyrics, which glorified universal ideas. The expression of social consciousness in an objective and truthful way, the stabilization of realistic principles, begins with Furkat's poetry.


2020 ◽  
Vol 384 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-232
Author(s):  
P. V. Menshikov ◽  
G. K. Kassymova ◽  
R. R. Gasanova ◽  
Y. V. Zaichikov ◽  
V. A. Berezovskaya ◽  
...  

A special role in the development of a pianist as a musician, composer and performer, as shown by the examples of the well-known, included in the history of art, and the most ordinary pianists, their listeners and admirers, lovers of piano music and music in general, are played by moments associated with psychotherapeutic abilities and music features. The purpose of the study is to comprehend the psychotherapeutic aspects of performing activities (using pianists as an example). The research method is a theoretical analysis of the psychotherapeutic aspects of performing activities: the study of the possibilities and functions of musical psychotherapy in the life of a musician as a “(self) psychotherapist” and “patient”. For almost any person, music acts as a way of self-understanding and understanding of the world, a way of self-realization, rethinking and overcoming life's difficulties - internal and external "blockages" of development, a way of saturating life with universal meanings, including a person in the richness of his native culture and universal culture as a whole. Art and, above all, its metaphorical nature help to bring out and realize internal experiences, provide an opportunity to look at one’s own experiences, problems and injuries from another perspective, to see a different meaning in them. In essence, we are talking about art therapy, including the art of writing and performing music - musical psychotherapy. However, for a musician, music has a special meaning, special significance. Musician - produces music, and, therefore, is not only an “object”, but also the subject of musical psychotherapy. The musician’s training includes preparing him as an individual and as a professional to perform functions that can be called psychotherapeutic: in the works of the most famous performers, as well as in the work of ordinary teachers, psychotherapeutic moments sometimes become key. Piano music and performance practice sets a certain “viewing angle” of life, and, in the case of traumatic experiences, a new way of understanding a difficult, traumatic and continuing to excite a person event, changing his attitude towards him. It helps to see something that was hidden in the hustle and bustle of everyday life or in the patterns of relationships familiar to a given culture. At the same time, while playing music or learning to play music, a person teaches to see the hidden and understand the many secrets of the human soul, the relationships of people.


2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 142-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ugo FALCHI

The final goal of this paper was to fix a brief summary on the status of geographic information in Italy due to the technological steps and national regulations. The acquisition, processing and sharing of spatial data has experienced a significant acceleration thanks to the development of computer technology and the acknowledgment of the need for standardization and homogenization of information held by pub­lic authorities and individuals. The spatial data represents the essential knowledge in the management and development of a territory both in terms of planning for safety and environmental prevention. In Italy there is an enormous heritage of spatial information which is historically affected by a problem of consistency and uniformity, in order to make it often contradictory in its use by the public decision-maker and private par­ties. The recent history of geographic information is characterized by a significant effort aimed at optimiz­ing this decisive technical and cultural heritage allowing the use of it to all citizens in a logic of sharing and re-use and may finally represent a common good available to all.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-166
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Bakuła ◽  
Zdzisław Kurczyński

Abstract The Archives of Photogrammetry, Cartography and Remote Sensing is a journal which, in the era of technological development of photogrammetry and remote sensing and changes related to cartography in the field of common digitization of sources and processing of spatial information in GIS environment, has been one of the most popular places for publishing articles in this field in Poland for years. Thirty volumes published throughout 25 years have provided nearly 1000 scientific articles and monographic studies summarizing the scientific work of several hundred authors from dozens of scientific institutions and production companies in Poland. This article is an attempt to summarize the achievements published in the journal in the field of bibliometric evaluation and statistical data of the publications from the time of the existence of this inter-association journal. The text quotes the history of the journal, indicates statistics on the number of articles, their citation with the most popular items, authors, reviewers. This evaluation was compared with other national and foreign journals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-220
Author(s):  
Alf Gerlach

German psychoanalysts have played a special role in the spread of psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy in China. This article describes the history of the training programme anchored at the Shanghai Mental Health Center, its specific design, the cooperation with Chinese colleagues, and the importance of self-experience in groups. It reflects on the sociocultural background of the involvement of German psychoanalysts and the promotion of the project by German institutions. Conscious and unconscious aspects of group dynamics on both the German and Chinese sides are presented and discussed.


Author(s):  
Monika Maria Stumpp ◽  
Claudio Calovi Pereira

The development of design activity uses technical suports that allow the architect to record the evolution of your idea or communication with it. Historically, the support that has been used is the graphical representation, which, as a intelligence technology, joins with the creative and cognitive processes of the individual, allowing communication with their imagination and also to all individuals involved in projecting. The representations graphically materialized, calls drawing,  are important in the practice of architecture because they represent the evolution of the design process. The drawing means the way in which design is conducted, tested, controlled and ultimately appears performed. In this context the drawings of the Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio play a special role in the history of architecture, because it makes clear how he understood and thought the architecture. At that time, the graphical representation of the space acquired an importance that had not previously, incorporating a greater number of alternative representation, highlighting the aesthetic concerns and the current building techniques. A lot of drawings produced by Palladio, shows how he was deeply convinced of eloquence and priority of images to understand the architecture, more than any other form of discursive explanation. In this sense, this work investigates the drawings of Palladio as a tool at the process of design solutions translation. The reading of the project through the design has been used to study designs and architectural objects or certain styles or specific authorship of an architect. Here the method is used for reading the project of Villa Pisani in Bagnolo (1542). Using two and three dimensional drawings, represented by plan, section and volumetry, it is intended to make explicit certain aspects underlying the architectural work, as questions of proportion and symmetry. It is expected that, at the work of Palladio, this method allows to compare and understand drawings, in order to analyze mutations and replications and  search of new meanings, readings and interpretations.


Author(s):  
Faridun Z. Zavurbekov

The article deals with the rights of women in the Fatimid Caliphate (10th to 12th centuries) by analysing the judicial practice of the time, the decisions of the Sharia and Mazalim courts. The author focuses on the legal status of women in the sphere of marriage, family and criminal law in the Ismaili tradition. Historical-legal and comparative-legal methods are used in the analysis of sources. The study begins with a short digression into the history of the Fatimid Caliphate. The features of the judicial system, the role of the cadi and its competence are described. There are a number of court cases, one of the parties to which was a woman. Based on the analysis, the author makes a conclusion about the specifi city of the Fatimid approach to marriage, in comparison with the Sunni and Imamite legal schools. The special role of guardians at the conclusion of the marriage contract and restriction of freedom of its termination is noted. Attention is drawn to the fact of extremely negative attitude to marriage between Muslim women and representatives of other religious movements, as well as to such an institution of family law as temporary marriage, legalised in the Imamite school of law. The fi nal part deals with criminal cases in which a woman is both the victim and the accused. Based on these precedents, it is a non-trivial conclusion that the judges of the Fatimid Caliphate did not always rely on Sharia norms when making decisions against women, which is completely atypical for Muslim traditions in general. At the same time, any crimes against this group of the population were punished rather severely. Particular attention is drawn to the state’s approach to women plaintiffs, depending on the degree of their personal participation in the judicial process.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 33-53
Author(s):  
Jan Pacholski

From travel accounts to guidebooks: The beginnings of guidebooks to the Giant Mountains Karkonosze for travellers in the late 18th and early 19th centuryIn the history of European tourism the Giant Mountains Karkonosze occupy a unique place thanks to the Chapel of St. Lawrence, funded by Count Christoph Leopold Schaffgotsch and located on the summit of Śnieżka. Its construction in the Habsburg dominions in the turbulent period of the Counter-Reformation was meant to finally put an end to the Silesian-Bohemian border dispute and become a visible sign of Catholic rule over the highest mountain range of the two neighbouring countries. The construction of the chapel also marked the beginning of tourism in the highest range of the Sudetes; initially, its nature was religious and focused on pilgrimages to the summit of Śnieżka, featuring, in addition to local inhabitants, also sanatorium visitors to Cieplice Warmbrunn, which was owned by the Schaffgotschs.After the three Silesian Wars, as a result of which the lands to the north of the mountains were separated from the Habsburgs’ Kingdom of Bohemia, the situation in the region changed radically. The Counter-Reformation pressure ceased and the Lutherans began to grow in importance, supported as they were by the decidedly pro-Protestant Prussian state, governed by its tolerant monarch.The period was also marked by an unprecedented growth in the literature on the Giant Mountains — there were poems Tralles, nature studies Volkmar and travel accounts GutsMuths, Troschel and others written about the highest range of the Sudetes. A special role among these writings was played by works aimed at introducing the public from the capital Berlin to the new province of the Kingdom of Prussia, especially to the mountains, so exotic from the point of view of the “groves and sands” of Brandenburg. These publications were written primarily by Lutheran clergymen, which was not without significance to the nature of the works. This was also a time when the first guidebooks to the Giant Mountains were written, with many of their authors also coming from the same milieu.What emerges from this image is a kind of confessionalisation of tourism in the highest mountains of Silesia and Bohemia: on the one hand there are mass Catholic pilgrimages and on the other — a new type of individual tourists who, with a book in hand, traverse mountain paths in a decidedly more independent fashion.


Author(s):  
Bogdan Grachev

This article attempts to “objectify” and conceptualize the concept of “Eurasia”, determine its ontological characteristics as the sociopolitical space of development of the Russian civilizational project, as well as delineates the contours of this space within the framework of a project-constructive methodological orientation. The author refers to the history of formation of holistic representations on Eurasia within the scientific thought, giving special attention to the contribution of geopoliticians, and emphasizing the implementation of theoretical provisions in real politics. The empirical basis relies on the two megaprojects that are implemented in practice: the Silk Road Economic Belt initiated by China and the Eurasian Economic Union (which includes Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Russia), as well as the “Greater Eurasia” as a potential way of their interlink and development of the space for cross-civilizational dialogue on the continent. The main conclusions are as follows: 1) Eurasia is determined both as the goal of the Russian project of civilizational development and as the space it can be realized within. At the same time, the space for the development of Russia-Eurasia is described as the natural environment of the Russian civilizational project, the space of the “primary circle”. Special role is played by the creation and development of the Eurasian Economic Union, which unites the countries that have faced the escalation of nationalist sentiment after the dissolution of the Soviet Union; 2) The “Greater Eurasia” is designated as the “secondary circle” of the Russian civilizational project, a space for continental cooperation, determines by new political reality.  3) Certain zones of civilizational confrontation and contradictions on the continent have been identified. The author believes that the need for conceptualization of the concept at hand lies in the significant sociopolitical formative potential.


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