[Associative neurons as correlators]

The paper continues the series of studies devoted to the hypothesis that the brain functioning occurs with the participation of correlation methods. The processing of signals by these methods is sufficiently versatile to provide the solution of diversified problems, which has been shown in studies of the mechanisms of animal echo location (a correlation model of echo location) and recognition of objects at any modality of sensor signals. It was shown that the mode of processing performed by neurons correlometers corresponds to the character of signals coming from the habitat of animals. Problems related to both the peculiarities of a reference signal formed by synaptic inputs of an associative neuron and the process of calculating the correlation function by this neuron were resolved. Two mathematically equivalent ways of physical execution of calculating the correlation function, by a correlometer and a passive correlated filter, were compared. The advantages of the brain that performs the correlation processing of signals by using the aggregates of neurons functioning as systems of correlometers rather than passive filters are analyzed.