ABSTRACT How does the connectivity of a neural network (number of synapses per neuron) relate to the complexity of the problems it can handle (measured by the entropy)? Switching theory would suggest no relation at all, since all Boolean functions can be implemented using a circuit with very low connectivity (e.g., using two-input NAND gates). However, for a network that learns a problem from examples using a local learning rule, we prove that the entropy of the problem becomes a lower bound for the connectivity of the network. INTRODUCTION The most distinguishing feature of neural networks is their ability to spontaneously learn the desired function from'training' samples, i.e., their ability to program themselves. Clearly, a given neural network cannot just learn any function, there must be some restrictions on which networks can learn which functions.

American Institute of Physics 1988 716 Asynthetic neural network simulation of cerebral neocortex was developed based on detailed anatomy and physiology. Processing elements possess temporal nonlinearities and connection patterns similar to those of cortical neurons. The network was able to replicate spatial and temporal integration properties found experimentally in neocortex. A certain level of randomness was found to be crucial for the robustness of at least some of the network's computational capabilities. Emphasis was placed on how synthetic simulations can be of use to the study of both artificial and biological neural networks.

Lateral inhibition operating in the surround of firing cells in each layer provides for unsupervised capture of excitation patterns presented by the previous layer. By presenting patterns of increasing complexity, in coordination with network selforganization, higherlevels of the hierarchy capture concepts implicit in the pattern set. INTRODUCTION A fundamental difficulty in self-organization of hierarchical, multi-layered, networks of simple neuron-like cells is the determination of the direction of adjustment of synaptic link weights between neural layers not directly connected to input or output patterns. Several different approaches have been used to address this problem. One is to provide teaching inputs to the cells in internal layers of the hierarchy.

Using a parallel processing model,the current work explores how the biological visual system might solve this problem and how the neurophysiologist might go about understanding the solution.

The algorithm, which resembles anew lightness algorithm recently proposed by Land, is approximately equivalent to filtering the image through a center-surround receptive field in individual chromatic channels.The synthesizing technique, optimal linear estimation, requires only one assumption, that the operator that transforms input into output is linear. This assumption is true for a certain class of early vision algorithms that may therefore be synthesized in a similar way from examples. Other methods of synthesizing algorithms from examples, or "learning", such as backpropagation, do not yield a significantly different orbetter lightness algorithm in the Mondrian world. The linear estimation and backpropagation techniques both produce simultaneous brightness contrast effects. The problems that a visual system must solve in decoding two-dimensional images into three-dimensional scenes (inverse optics problems) are difficult: the information supplied by an image is not sufficient by itself to specify a unique scene. To reduce the number of possible interpretations of images, visual systems, whether artificial or biological, must make use of natural constraints, assumptions about the physical properties of surfaces and lights. Computational vision scientists have derived effective solutions for some inverse optics problems (such as computing depth from binocular disparity) by determining the appropriate natural constraints and embedding them in algorithms. How might a visual system discover and exploit natural constraints on its own? We address a simpler question: Given only a set of examples of input images and desired output solutions, can a visual system synthesize.

Many optimization models of neural networks need constraints to restrict the space of outputs to a subspace which satisfies external criteria. Optimizations using energy methods yield "forces" which act upon the state of the neural network. The penalty method, in which quadratic energy constraints are added to an existing optimization energy, has become popular recently, but is not guaranteed to satisfy the constraint conditions when there are other forces on the neural model or when there are multiple constraints. In this paper, we present the basic differential multiplier method (BDMM), which satisfies constraints exactly; we create forces which gradually apply the constraints over time, using "neurons" that estimate Lagrange multipliers. The basic differential multiplier method is a differential version of the method of multipliers from Numerical Analysis.

Fernando J. Pineda Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins Rd., Laurel MD 20707 Abstract A general method for deriving backpropagation algorithms for networks with recurrent and higher order networks is introduced. The propagation of activation in these networks is determined by dissipative differential equations. The error signal is backpropagated by integrating an associated differential equation. The method is introduced by applying it to the recurrent generalization of the feedforward backpropagation network. The method is extended to the case of higher order networks and to a constrained dynamical system for training a content addressable memory. The essential feature of the adaptive algorithms is that adaptive equation has a simple outer product form.

This principle of "maximum information preservation" states that the signal transformation that is to be realized at each stage is one that maximizes the information that the output signal values (from that stage) convey about the input signals values (to that stage), subject to certain constraints and in the presence of processing noise. The quantity being maximized is a Shannon information rate. I provide motivation for this principle and -- for some simple model cases -- derive some of its consequences, discuss an algorithmic implementation, and show how the principle may lead to biologically relevant neural architectural features such as topographic maps, map distortions, orientation selectivity, and extraction of spatial and temporal signal correlations. A possible connection between this information-theoretic principle and a principle of minimum entropy production in nonequilibrium thermodynamics is suggested. Introduction This paper describes some properties of a proposed information-theoretic organizing principle for the development of a layered perceptual network. The purpose of this paper is to provide an intuitive and qualitative understanding of how the principle leads to specific feature-analyzing properties and signal transformations in some simple model cases. More detailed analysis is required in order to apply the principle to cases involving more realistic patterns of signaling activity as well as specific constraints on network connectivity. This section gives a brief summary of the results that motivated the formulation of the organizing principle, which I call the principle of "maximum information preservation." In later sections the principle is stated and its consequences studied.

ABSTRACT The information capacity of Kanerva's Sparse, Distributed Memory (SDM) and Hopfield-type neural networks is investigated. Under the approximations used here, it is shown that the total informationstored in these systems is proportional to the number connections in the network. Theproportionality constant is the same for the SDM and HopJreld-type models independent ofthe particular model, or the order of the model. The approximations are checked numerically. This same analysis can be used to show that the SDM can store sequences ofspatiotemporal patterns, and the addition of time-delayed connections allows the retrieval of context dependent temporal patterns. A minor modification of the SDM can be used to store correlated patterns. INTRODUCTION Many different models of memory and thought have been proposed by scientists over the years.

Asa means of probing these cerebellar mechanisms, my colleagues and I have been conducting microelectrode studies of the neural messages that flow through the intermediate divisionof the cerebellum and onward to limb muscles via the rubrospinal tract. We regard this cerebellorubrospinal pathwayas a useful model system for studying general problems of sensorimotor integration and adaptive brain function.