Neural Representation of Conceptual Knowledge.

Abstract

The neural encoding of memory is a problem of great interest and importance. Traditional proposals have taken one of two extreme views: The one-concept, one-neuron, punctate view and the fully distributed, holographic alternative. Major advances in the behavioral, biological and computational sciences have greatly increased our understanding of the question and its potential answers. There is now good reason to reject both extreme views, but a compact encoding that derives from the punctate model appears to fit well with all the facts. Much of the work espousing holographic models is reinterpreted as studying system properties of neural networks and, as such, considered to be of great importance. Some suggestions for directions of further research are discussed.