Cell Assemblies
- A Cell Assembly (CA) is a collection of neurons.
- The neurons have high mutual synaptic strength.
- When enough of the neurons in the CA fire,
they create a cascade of activation that
enables the entire CA to remain active indefinitely.
That is CA ignition.
- The initial neurons are fired by sensory input or
neurons in other CAs.
- The neural basis of a concept is a CA.
- When a CA ignites and while it runs, the concept is
in working memory.
- For a concept to be learned there must be enough
synaptic strength between its neurons. An
inactive CA is a long-term memory item.
- Learning is by Hebbian learning; synaptic strength is increased
when the pre and post-synaptic neuron fire at the same time.
