Sparse Distributed Memory: understanding the speed and robustness of expert memory

Abstract

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How can experts, sometimes in exacting detail, almost immediately and very precisely recall memory items from a vast repertoire? The problem in which we will be interested concerns models of theoretical neuroscience that could explain the speed and robustness of an expert's recollection. The approach is based on Sparse Distributed Memory, which has been shown to be plausible, both in a neuroscientific and in a psychological manner, in a number of ways. A crucial characteristic concerns the limits of human recollection, the `tip-of-tongue' memory event--which is found at a non-linearity in the model. We expand the theoretical framework, deriving an optimization formula to solve to this non-linearity. Numerical results demonstrate how the higher frequency of rehearsal, through work or study, immediately increases the robustness and speed associated with expert memory.

Keywords

• theoretical neuroscience
• nonlinearity
• critical distance
• Sparse Distributed Memory
• Expert Memory