We present a framework for programming tbe bidden unit representations of simple recurrent networks based on the use of hint units (additional targets at the output layer). We present two ways of analysing a network trained within this framework: Input patterns act as operators on the information encoded by the context units; symmetrically, patterns of activation over tbe context units act as curried functions of the input sequences. Simulations demonstrate that a network can learn to represent three different functions simultaneously and canonical discriminant analysis is used to investigate bow operators and curried functions are represented in the space of bidden unit activations.

Learning structure in temporally-extended sequences is a difficult computational problem because only a fraction of the relevant information is available at any instant. Although variants of back propagation can in principle be used to find structure in sequences, in practice they are not sufficiently powerful to discover arbitrary contingencies, especially those spanning long temporal intervals or involving high order statistics. For example, in designing a connectionist network for music composition, we have encountered the problem that the net is able to learn musical structure that occurs locally in time-e.g., relations among notes within a musical phrase-but not structure that occurs over longer time periods--e.g., relations among phrases. To address this problem, we require a means of constructing a reduced deacription of the sequence that makes global aspects more explicit or more readily detectable. I propose to achieve this using hidden units that operate with different time constants.

I present a modular network architecture and a learning algorithm based on incremental dynamic programming that allows a single learning agent to learn to solve multiple Markovian decision tasks (MDTs) with significant transfer of learning across the tasks. I consider a class of MDTs, called composite tasks, formed by temporally concatenating a number of simpler, elemental MDTs. The architecture is trained on a set of composite and elemental MDTs. The temporal structure of a composite task is assumed to be unknown and the architecture learns to produce a temporal decomposition. It is shown that under certain conditions the solution of a composite MDT can be constructed by computationally inexpensive modifications of the solutions of its constituent elemental MDTs. 1 INTRODUCTION Most applications of domain independent learning algorithms have focussed on learning single tasks. Building more sophisticated learning agents that operate in complex environments will require handling multiple tasks/goals (Singh, 1992). Research effort on the scaling problem has concentrated on discovering faster learning algorithms, and while that will certainly help, techniques that allow transfer of learning across tasks will be indispensable for building autonomous learning agents that have to learn to solve multiple tasks. In this paper I consider a learning agent that interacts with an external, finite-state, discrete-time, stochastic dynamical environment and faces multiple sequences of Markovian decision tasks (MDTs).

This paper presents PARSECa system for generating connectionist parsing networks from example parses. PARSEC is not based on formal grammar systems and is geared toward spoken language tasks. PARSEC networks exhibit three strengths important for application to speech processing: 1) they learn to parse, and generalize well compared to handcoded grammars; 2) they tolerate several types of noise; 3) they can learn to use multi-modal input. Presented are the PARSEC architecture and performance analyses along several dimensions that demonstrate PARSEC's features. PARSEC's performance is compared to that of traditional grammar-based parsing systems.

We propose a paradigm for modeling speech production based on neural networks. We focus on characteristics of the musculoskeletal system. Using real physiological data - articulator movements and EMG from muscle activitya neural network learns the forward dynamics relating motor commands to muscles and the ensuing articulator behavior. After learning, simulated perturbations, were used to asses properties of the acquired model, such as natural frequency, damping, and interarticulator couplings. Finally, a cascade neural network is used to generate continuous motor commands from a sequence of discrete articulatory targets.

JANUS translates continuously spoken English and German into German, English, and Japanese. JANUS currently achieves 87% translation fidelity from English speech and 97% from German speech. We present the JANUS system along with comparative evaluations of its interchangeable processing components, with special emphasis on the connectionist modules.

Animal locomotion patterns are controlled by recurrent neural networks called central pattern generators (CPGs). Although a CPG can oscillate autonomously, its rhythm and phase must be well coordinated with the state of the physical system using sensory inputs. In this paper we propose a learning algorithm for synchronizing neural and physical oscillators with specific phase relationships. Sensory input connections are modified by the correlation between cellular activities and input signals. Simulations show that the learning rule can be used for setting sensory feedback connections to a CPG as well as coupling connections between CPGs. 1 CENTRAL AND SENSORY MECHANISMS IN LOCOMOTION CONTROL Patterns of animal locomotion, such as walking, swimming, and fiying, are generated by recurrent neural networks that are located in segmental ganglia of invertebrates and spinal cords of vertebrates (Barnes and Gladden, 1985).

It seems quite natural to assume that the limited capacity is due to the special dynamical nature of STM. Recently, Crick and Koch (1990) suggested that the working memory is functionally related to the binding process, and is obtained via synchronized oscillations of neural populations. The capacity limitation of STM may then result from the competition between oscillations representing items in STM. In the model which we investigate this is indeed the case.

Recently synchronization phenomena in neural networks have attracted considerable attention. Gray et al. (1989, 1990) as well as Eckhorn et al. (1988) provided electrophysiological evidence that neurons in the visual cortex of cats discharge in a semi-synchronous, oscillatory manner in the 40 Hz range and that the firing activity of neurons up to 10 mm away is phase-locked with a mean phase-shift of less than 3 msec. It has been proposed that this phase synchronization can solve the binding problem for figure-ground segregation (von der Malsburg and Schneider, 1986) and underly visual attention and awareness (Crick and Koch, 1990). A number of theoretical explanations based on coupled (relaxation) oscillator mod-117 118 Schuster and Koch els have been proposed for burst synchronization (Sompolinsky et al., 1990). The crucial issue of phase synchronization has also recently been addressed by Bush and Douglas (1991), who simulated the dynamics of a network consisting of bursty, layer V pyramidal cells coupled to a common pool of basket cells inhibiting all pyramidal cells.

Recently synchronization phenomena in neural networks have attracted considerable attention. Gray et al. (1989, 1990) as well as Eckhorn et al. (1988) provided electrophysiological evidence that neurons in the visual cortex of cats discharge in a semi-synchronous, oscillatory manner in the 40 Hz range and that the firing activity of neurons up to 10 mm away is phase-locked with a mean phase-shift of less than 3 msec. It has been proposed that this phase synchronization can solve the binding problem for figure-ground segregation (von der Malsburg and Schneider, 1986) and underly visual attention and awareness (Crick and Koch, 1990). A number of theoretical explanations based on coupled (relaxation) oscillator mod-117 118 Schuster and Koch els have been proposed for burst synchronization (Sompolinsky et al., 1990). The crucial issue of phase synchronization has also recently been addressed by Bush and Douglas (1991), who simulated the dynamics of a network consisting of bursty, layer V pyramidal cells coupled to a common pool of basket cells inhibiting all pyramidal cells.