Research article summary (published 14 Apr 2008):

The nervous system might 'orthogonalize' to discriminate.

Full Abstract

It is still unclear how information is actually stored in biological neural networks. We propose here that information could be first orthogonalized and then stored. This could happen in a manner similar to how a set of vectors is transformed into a set of orthogonalized (i.e. mutually perpendicular) vectors. Orthogonalization may overcome the limits of conventional artificial networks, particularly the catastrophic interference caused by interference between stored inputs. The features needed to allow orthogonalization are common to biological networks, suggesting that it may be a common network mechanism. To illustrate this hypothesis, we characterize the underlying features that an archetypal biological network must have in order to perform orthogonalization, and point out that a number of actual networks show this archetypal network organization.

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Author information

Author/s: Srivastava, Vipin (V); Parker, D J (DJ); Edwards, S F (SF);

Affiliation: School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 500046, India. vpssp(-atsign-)uohyd.ernet.in

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of theoretical biology (J Theor Biol), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Aug; vol 253 (issue 3) : pp 514-7

Dates: Created 2008/07/18; Completed 2008/09/04;

PMID: 18511085, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Discrimination (Psychology) - physiology Humans Memory - physiology

Models, Neurological Models, Psychological Nerve Net - physiology

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