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    Avalanches and generalized memory associativity in a network model for conscious and unconscious mental functioning

    Siddiqui, Maheen and Wedemann, R.S. and Jensen, H.J. (2018) Avalanches and generalized memory associativity in a network model for conscious and unconscious mental functioning. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications 490 , pp. 127-138. ISSN 0378-4371.

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    Abstract

    We explore statistical characteristics of avalanches associated with the dynamics of a complex-network model, where two modules corresponding to sensorial and symbolic memories interact, representing unconscious and conscious mental processes. The model illustrates Freud’s ideas regarding the neuroses and that consciousness is related with symbolic and linguistic memory activity in the brain. It incorporates the Stariolo–Tsallis generalization of the Boltzmann Machine in order to model memory retrieval and associativity. In the present work, we define and measure avalanche size distributions during memory retrieval, in order to gain insight regarding basic aspects of the functioning of these complex networks. The avalanche sizes defined for our model should be related to the time consumed and also to the size of the neuronal region which is activated, during memory retrieval. This allows the qualitative comparison of the behaviour of the distribution of cluster sizes, obtained during fMRI measurements of the propagation of signals in the brain, with the distribution of avalanche sizes obtained in our simulation experiments. This comparison corroborates the indication that the Nonextensive Statistical Mechanics formalism may indeed be more well suited to model the complex networks which constitute brain and mental structure.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): Consciousness–unconsciousness, Neuroses, Self-organized neural networks, Boltzmann machine, Generalized simulated annealing, Avalanches
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences
    Research Centres and Institutes: Brain and Cognitive Development, Centre for (CBCD)
    Depositing User: Administrator
    Date Deposited: 03 Nov 2017 09:17
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:36
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/20199

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