Operational Cell Assemblies as a Paradigm for Brain-Inspired Future Computing Architectures

We present a prototypical modular spiking neuron network resembling cortical decision processes based on spatio-temporal relations of several sensory stimuli. The model is strongly motivated by theories about the distributed representation and associative processing of information in the neo-cortex. In especially, as the cortex with its architectonically similar but functionally specialised areas, it uses a single generic building block for various sub-tasks like preprocessing, spatio-temporal short-term memory and behavioural control. By means of its modular and cascadable nature, the generic circuit is particularly well suited for a potential mass production in form of, e.g., analog VLSI.