Cell Assemblies
- Hebb came up with the idea of Cell Assemblies in 1949, thus
introducing neuropsychology.
- The basic idea is that the neural representation of a concept is
a CA.
- A CA is a bunch of neurons that have high mutual synaptic strength.
- So for example, when a stimulus is presented, some neurons in
the CA fire.
- As they have high strength connections to the other neurons, they
fire some of those.
- This leads to a cascade of neural firing called CA ignition.
- The ignited CA can continue to fire even though the initial stimulus
has stopped. That is, it persists.
- So, the ignited CA is a short-term memory.
- The CA is formed via Hebbian learning.
- The formed CA is long-term memory.
- Chicken and egg problem.
- Dual dynamics: CA ignition vs. CA formation.
