Connectionists: AI at 50 videos...

Mon Aug 24 22:56:18 EDT 2026

  *   Plate (2002): "Another equivalent property is that in a distributed representation one cannot interpret the meaning of activity on a single neuron in isolation: the meaning of activity on any particular neuron is dependent on the activity in other neurons (Thorpe, 1995)."
  *   Thorpe (1995, p. 550): "With a local representation, activity in individual units can be interpreted directly ... with distributed coding individual units cannot be interpreted without knowing the state of other units in the network."
  *   Elman (1995, p. 210): "These representations are distributed, which typically has the consequence that interpretable information cannot be obtained by examining activity of single hidden units."

1. Elman J. (1995). Language as a dynamical system, in Mind as Motion: Explorations in the Dynamics of Cognition, eds Port R., van Gelder T. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), 195-223.
2. PlateT. (2002). Distributed representations, in: Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, ed Nadel L. (London: Macmillan), 2.
3. ThorpeS. (1995). Localized versus distributed representations, in The Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks, ed Arbib M. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), 550.

In that discussion with Horace Barlow and others, interpretation and meaning of the activations that responded only to certain specific stimuli was the main source of discomfort to connectionists including Walter Freeman. Hence Walter asking Rodrigo directly whether those activations had meaning and interpretation.

Asim

Asim Roy

Professor, Information Systems

Arizona State University

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From: Rothganger, Fred <frothga at sandia.gov>
Sent: Monday, August 24, 2026 8:46 AM
To: Asim Roy <ASIM.ROY at asu.edu>
Cc: connectionists at mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu
Subject: AI at 50 videos...

Asim,

It makes sense for you to put "meaning" in scare-quotes, since it is another ill-defined term. IMHO, the important thing is adaptive behavior. That a particular neuron fires when the organism is exposed to a stimulus is significant because that spike does work on other parts of the system, ultimately shaping behavior. The notion of "meaning" may just be a convenience for us as observers discussing the system.

-- Fred

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Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Connectionists: FW: AI at 50 videos...

By the way, most of these microelectrode-based studies, starting with Horace Barlow, are single cell studies. And the single cell studies are the ones that have won Noble prizes because of the insights they produced. The overall evidence from these studies is not just about grandmother cells, but about single cells encoding abstractions and "meaning." Reddy and Thorpe (2014) conclude:

"In conclusion, evidence is accumulating that "concept cells" carry high-level, abstract stimulus information."

Single cells having "meaning" was (and still is) at the heart of discussion at that time because it contradicts the fundamental population coding idea where single neurons by themselves have no meaning, they only have meaning collectively. And Walter Freeman at that time could not accept the idea that single cells have meaning. We were supposed to have a public debate about this at IJCNN 2011 in San Jose. Walter posed the question directly to Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, who conducted many of these experiments under the supervision of Itzhak Fried and Christof Koch. Walter also knew Rodrigo, having been co-authors or co-editors of a book. Rodrigo came through at the last minute before the public debate, acknowledging that the single cells in his studies indeed had "meaning."

"Meaning" and abstraction is at the heart of these debates, not grandmother cells. And finding "meaning" in activations of single cells directly contradicts the population coding hypothesis and supports instead the symbol system hypothesis.

Asim Roy

Professor, Information Systems

Arizona State University

Lifeboat Foundation Bios: Professor Asim Roy<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/lifeboat.com/ex/bios.asim.roy__;!!IKRxdwAv5BmarQ!NHg1P4byXZZmMFLMgr8A4dQNxSlqyvsqWef4wrPXtCXR0f0bo0eMm-rIF8G6ZV0$>

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