A neurodynamical model for working memory

  • Authors:
  • Razvan Pascanu;Herbert Jaeger

  • Affiliations:
  • DIRO, Université de Montréal, H3T 1J4 Quebec, Canada;Jacobs University Bremen, School of Engineering and Science, 28759 Bremen, Germany

  • Venue:
  • Neural Networks
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

Neurodynamical models of working memory (WM) should provide mechanisms for storing, maintaining, retrieving, and deleting information. Many models address only a subset of these aspects. Here we present a rather simple WM model in which all of these performance modes are trained into a recurrent neural network (RNN) of the echo state network (ESN) type. The model is demonstrated on a bracket level parsing task with a stream of rich and noisy graphical script input. In terms of nonlinear dynamics, memory states correspond, intuitively, to attractors in an input-driven system. As a supplementary contribution, the article proposes a rigorous formal framework to describe such attractors, generalizing from the standard definition of attractors in autonomous (input-free) dynamical systems.