SINBAD: A neocortical mechanism for discovering environmental variables and regularities hidden in sensory input

We propose that a top priority of the cerebral cortex must be the discovery and explicit representation of the environmental variables that contribute as major factors to environmental regularities. Any neural representation in which such variables are represented only implicitly (thus requiring extra computing to use them) will make the regularities more complex and therefore more difficult, if not impossible, to learn. The task of discovering such important environmental variables is not an easy one, since their existence is only indirectly suggested by the sensory input patterns the cortex receives

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2004
• Where: BC
• Authors: Oleg V. Favorov, Dan Ryder
• Keywords: BC 2004, Environmental Variables, Important Environmental Variable, Pyramidal Cells