Ph.D. Thesis on A Model of Isocortex available

[Mark James]

My doctoral thesis is available for download from:
	http://www.cs.usyd.edu.au/~mrj/AMI

		An Adaptive Model of Isocortex

                           ABSTRACT 

A complete description of the functioning of the human brain
requires understandings of three levels of neural processing:
the operation of single brain neurons, how these neurons work
together in each of the brains functional modules, and how
these modules interact to produce the observed sensory, motor,
and cognitive abilities. This thesis is principally concerned
with the second of these processing levels, providing a plausible
explanation of the operation of the functional modules of the
cerebral cortex, namely cortical areas. 

Following a review of models of the operation of single cortical
neurons, a model of the neural circuitry of homotypic six-layer
cortex (isocortex) is constructed. The model is in accord with
much of the anatomical and physiological data, and posits
computational roles for each cortical layer and for each of the
main types of cortical neurons. Analysis of the adaptive and
activation dynamics of the isocortical model suggest that the
neural feedback loops between cortical layers allow the cortex to
perform powerful pattern recognition operations using a rule for
adaptation of synaptic strengths that is constrained by biology
to be much simpler than those often used in artificial neural
network models.

Results of computer simulations are described, which demonstrate
that the model is capable of performing simple pattern discrimination
and clustering tasks. The thesis concludes with an outline of ways
in which the cortical model may be applied to speech and language
processing. 

-- 
Mark James                                  |EMAIL : mrj at cs.usyd.edu.au|
Basser Department of Computer Science, F09  |PHONE : +61-2-9351-3423   |
The University of Sydney NSW 2006 AUSTRALIA |FAX   : +61-2-9351-3838   |
================- WEB: http://www.cs.usyd.edu.au/~mrj -=================