Pattern-recognition by an artificial network derived from biologic neuronal systems

A novel artificial neural network, derived from neurobiological observations, is described and examples of its performance are presented. This DYnamically STable Associative Learning (DYSTAL) network associatively learns both correlations and anticorrelations, and can be configured to classify or restore patterns with only a change in the number of output units. DYSTAL exhibits some particularly desirable properties: computational effort scales linearly with the number of connections, i.e., it is O(N) in complexity; performance of the network is stable with respect to network parameters over wide ranges of their values and over the size of the input field; storage of a very large number of patterns is possible; patterns need not be orthogonal; network connections are not restricted to multi-layer feed-forward or any other specific structure; and, for a known set of deterministic input patterns, the network weights can be computed, a priori, in closed form. The network has been associatively trained to perform the XOR function as well as other classification tasks. The network has also been trained to restore patterns obscured by binary or analog noise. Neither global nor local feedback connections are required during learning; hence the network is particularly suitable for hardware (VLSI) implementation.