dynamic binding

[Jamie Henderson]

The vector representation of dynamic bindings suggested by S H Srinivasan
can be thought of as a spatial form of the temporal synchrony representation
of dynamic bindings.  Under an idealized form of the temporal synchrony
model, the network cycles through the set of entities one at a time.  One
period of this cycle corresponds to one computation step in the vector
processing model.  I can imagine other forms of "vector position synchrony"
that would correspond to less idealized versions of temporal synchrony.

One advantage of the temporal synchrony model over the vector model is that
if a rule is learned for an entity in one "position" of the vector, the
temporal synchrony model inherently generalizes this rule to all
"positions".  Because the temporal synchrony model cycles through entities,
the piece of network which implements a rule is time-multiplexed across all
entities.  The vector model would need a special mechanism for enforcing
this property of rules.

					- Jamie 

James Henderson
Computer and Information Science
University of Pennsylvania