Synchronization: The Computational Currency of Cognition

Oxford Handbooks Online

2014

A long-standing debate in perception concerns the question of whether perceptual organization is guided by internal efficiency (the simplicity principle) or by external veridicality (the likelihood principle). This article focuses on the simplicity principle which is a modern information-theoretic version of Occam's razor, but also compares it to the likelihood principle which reflects classical information theory. Both principles can be modeled by Bayes' rule which combines quantifications of view-independent and view-dependent factors to predict stimulus interpretations. Whereas the likelihood principle relies on hardly quantifiable frequencies of occurrence of things in the world, the simplicity principle relies on better quantifiable structural complexities of individual things. The simplicity principle is further argued to be sufficiently veridical in everyday perception, and neurally realizable via cognitive architecture enabling transparallel processing. This quantum-like form of representational processing relates to connectionist modeling and complements dynamic-systems ideas about neuronal synchronization.

Section: The Visual Hierarchy In the Brainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simplicity in Perceptual Organization

Oxford Handbooks Online

2014

“…Furthermore, Rosenblatt (1958) and Fukushima (1975) proposed small artifical networks-called perceptrons and cognitrons, respectively-as formal counterparts of cognitive processing units. More recently, the idea arose that actual cognitive processing units-or, as I call them, gnosons (i.e., fundamental particles of cognition)-are given by transient neural assemblies defined by synchronization of the neurons involved (Buzsáki 2006;Fingelkurts 2001, 2004;Finkel et al 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ideas about the meaning of gamma-band synchronization are, for instance, that it binds neurons which, together, represent one perceptual entity (Milner 1974;von der Malsburg 1981), or that it is a marker that an assembly has arrived at a steady state (Pollen 1999), or that its strength is an index of the salience of features (Finkel et al 1998;Salinas and Sejnowski 2001), or that more strongly synchronized assemblies in a visual area in the brain are locked on more easily by higher areas (Fries 2005). These ideas sound plausible, that is, synchronization indeed might reflect a flexible and efficient mechanism subserving the representation of information, the regulation of the flow of information, and the storage and retrieval of information (Sejnowski and Paulsen 2006;Tallon-Baudry 2009).…”

Section: Neuronal Synchronizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transparallel mind: classical computing with quantum power

2015

Artif Intell Rev

Inspired by the extraordinary computing power promised by quantum computers, the quantum mind hypothesis postulated that quantum mechanical phenomena are the source of neuronal synchronization, which, in turn, might underlie consciousness. Here, I present an alternative inspired by a classical computing method with quantum power. This method relies on special distributed representations called hyperstrings. Hyperstrings are superpositions of up to an exponential number of strings, which-by a single-processor classical computercan be evaluated in a transparallel fashion, that is, simultaneously as if only one string were concerned. Building on a neurally plausible model of human visual perceptual organization, in which hyperstrings are formal counterparts of transient neural assemblies, I postulate that synchronization in such assemblies is a manifestation of transparallel information processing. This accounts for the high combinatorial capacity and speed of human visual perceptual organization and strengthens ideas that self-organizing cognitive architecture bridges the gap between neurons and consciousness.

“…Both theoretically and empirically, neuronal synchronization has been associated with cognitive processing, and synchronization in the gamma-band (30-70 Hz), in particular, has been associated with feature binding in perceptual organization (Eckhorn et al, 1988;Gray & Singer, 1989;Milner, 1974;von der Malsburg, 1981). Related ideas about its meaning are, for instance, that it is a marker that an assembly has arrived at a steady state (Pollen, 1999), or that its strength is an index of the salience of features (Finkel, Yen, & Menschik, 1998;Salinas & Sejnowski, 2001), or that more strongly synchronized assemblies in a visual area in the brain are locked on more easily by higher areas (Fries, 2005). These ideas sound plausible, that is, synchronization indeed might reflect a flexible and efficient mechanism subserving the representation of information, the regulation of the flow of information, and the storage and retrieval of information (Sejnowski & Paulsen, 2006;Tallon-Baudry, 2009).…”

Section: The Cognitive Architecture Patvishmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cognitive architecture account of the visual local advantage phenomenon in autism spectrum disorders

2016

Vision Research

Ideally, a cognitive architecture is a neurally plausible model that unifies mental representations and cognitive processes. Here, I apply such a model to re-evaluate the local advantage phenomenon in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), that is, the better than typical performance on visual tasks in which local stimulus features are to be discerned. The model takes (a) perceptual organization as a predominantly stimulus-driven process yielding hierarchical stimulus organizations, and (b) attention as predominantly scrutinizing the hierarchical structure of established percepts in a task-driven top-down fashion. This accounts for a dominance of wholes over parts and implies that perceived global structures mask incompatible local features. The model also substantiates that impairments in neuronal synchronization - as found in ASD - reduce the emergence of global structures and, thereby, their masking effect on incompatible features. I argue that this explains the local advantage phenomenon and I discuss implications and suggestions for future research.