International Journal of Neural Systems, Vol. 7, Nos. 4 (1996) 529
© World Scientific Publishing Company
International Journal of Neural Systems, Vol. 7, Nos. 4 (1996) 529
© World Scientific Publishing Company
Segmentation and binding are cognitive operations
that underlie the process of perception. They can be understood
as taking place in the temporal domain. In models of nonlinear
oscillatory neurons and neuronal cell assemblies, we represent
binding by phase locking of assemblies in different networks,
and segmentation by phase separation of assemblies in the same
network, leading to waveforms of staggered oscillations. Both
processes can be facilitated if the inputs to the system,
representing simultaneously activated memories, possess noisy
components. In the binding problem they serve as a tagging
device, driving phase locking between assemblies that belong to
different networks but carry the same inputs. In the
segmentation problem they allow us to overcome an inherent
limitation on segmentation that, otherwise, cannot accommodate
more than a few commonly excited memories.