Recently, many modifications to the McCulloch/Pitts model have been proposed where both learning and forgetting occur. Given that the network never saturates (ceases to function effectively due to an overload of information), the learning updates can continue indefinitely. For these networks, we need to introduce performance measmes in addition to the information capacity to evaluate the different networks. We mathematically define quantities such as the plasticity of a network, the efficacy of an information vector, and the probability of network saturation. From these quantities we analytically compare different networks.

Recently, many modifications to the McCulloch/Pitts model have been proposed where both learning and forgetting occur. Given that the network never saturates (ceases to function effectively due to an overload of information), the learning updates can continue indefinitely. For these networks, we need to introduce performance measmes in addition to the information capacity to evaluate the different networks. We mathematically define quantities such as the plasticity of a network, the efficacy of an information vector, and the probability of network saturation. From these quantities we analytically compare different networks.

The McCulloch/Pitts model discussed in [1] was one of the earliest neural network models to be analyzed. Some computational properties of what we call a Hopfield Associative Memory Network (HAMN):similar to the McCulloch/Pitts model was discussed by Hopfield in [2]. The HAMN can be measured quantitatively by defining and evaluating the information capacity as [2-6] have shown, but this network fails to exhibit more complex computational capabilities that neural network have due to its simplified structure. The HAMN belongs to a class of networks which we call static. In static networks the learning and recall procedures areseparate.