SARDNET: A Self-Organizing Feature Map for Sequences

A self-organizing neural network for sequence classification called SARDNET is described and analyzed experimentally. SARDNET extends the Kohonen Feature Map architecture with activation re(cid:173) tention and decay in order to create unique distributed response patterns for different sequences. The network has proven successful on mapping ar(cid:173) bitrary sequences of binary and real numbers, as well as phonemic representations of English words. Potential applications include isolated spoken word recognition and cognitive science models of sequence processing.