title: Webs, cell assemblies, and chunking in neural nets: introduction.
abstract: This introduction to Wickelgren (1992), describes a theory of idea representation and learning in the cerebral cortex and seven properties of Hebb's (1949) formulation of cell assemblies that have played a major role in all such neural net models. Ideas are represented in the cerebral cortex by webs (innate cell assemblies), using sparse coding with sparse, all-or-none, innate linking. Recruiting a web to represent a new idea is called chunking. The innate links that bind the neurons of a web are basal dendritic synapses. Learning modifies the apical dendritic synapses that associate neurons in one web to neurons in another web.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, New York, USA.
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Wickelgren
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*