A Cellular Automaton Model Based on Cortical Physiology
Martin I. Hofmann
Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Toronto,
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1, Canada
Abstract
A model is proposed that is based on certain aspects of sensory cortex. The basic model is a cellular automaton, where the cells represent small groups of neurons in the cortex. All cells are locally interconnected with their three nearest neighbours in each direction, a variable set of weights determines the strength of the connections. The output of the cell is a function of the weighted sum of the inputs. Other variable parameters are the threshold and the number of states. The model is shown to be able to exhibit a wide range of behaviours analogous to the types of behaviour seen in other more general cellular automata. A subset of these behaviour types may be applicable to modelling the functions of sensory cortex.
