Context-dependent retrieval of information by neural-network dynamics with continuous attractors

Memory retrieval in neural networks has traditionally been described by dynamic systems with discrete attractors. However, recent neurophysiological findings of graded persistent activity suggest that memory retrieval in the brain is more likely to be described by dynamic systems with continuous attractors. To explore what sort of information processing is achieved by continuous-attractor dynamics, keyword extraction from documents by a network of bistable neurons, which gives robust continuous attractors, is examined. Given an associative network of terms, a continuous attractor led by propagation of neuronal activation in this network appears to represent keywords that express underlying meaning of a document encoded in the initial state of the network-activation pattern. A dominant hypothesis in cognitive psychology is that long-term memory is archived in the network structure, which resembles associative networks of terms. Our results suggest that keyword extraction by the neural-network dynamics with continuous attractors might symbolically represent context-dependent retrieval of short-term memory from long-term memory in the brain.