A Cellular Automaton Model Based on Cortical Physiology

A model is proposed that is based on certain aspects of senso ry cortex. The basic model is a cellular automaton, where the cells represent small groups of neurons in th e cor tex. All cells ar e locally interconnected with their three nearest neighbours in each direction, a variable set of weights determines the st rength of the connections . The output of the cell is a fun ction of the weighted sum of the inputs. Other variable parameters are the threshold and th e 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 funct ions of sensory cortex.