Krieger Mind/Brain Institute and Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
Annu Rev Neurosci. 2012;35:267-85. doi: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-062111-150351. Epub 2012 Mar 29.
Attractor networks are a popular computational construct used to model different brain systems. These networks allow elegant computations that are thought to represent a number of aspects of brain function. Although there is good reason to believe that the brain displays attractor dynamics, it has proven difficult to test experimentally whether any particular attractor architecture resides in any particular brain circuit. We review models and experimental evidence for three systems in the rat brain that are presumed to be components of the rat's navigational and memory system. Head-direction cells have been modeled as a ring attractor, grid cells as a plane attractor, and place cells both as a plane attractor and as a point attractor. Whereas the models have proven to be extremely useful conceptual tools, the experimental evidence in their favor, although intriguing, is still mostly circumstantial.
吸引子网络是一种流行的计算结构，用于模拟不同的大脑系统。这些网络允许进行优雅的计算，被认为代表了大脑功能的许多方面。尽管有充分的理由相信大脑显示出吸引子动力学，但要通过实验来验证任何特定的吸引子结构是否存在于任何特定的大脑回路中，这一直是具有挑战性的。我们回顾了大鼠大脑中三个系统的模型和实验证据，这些系统被认为是大鼠导航和记忆系统的组成部分。头部方向细胞被建模为一个环形吸引子，网格细胞被建模为一个平面吸引子，而位置细胞则被建模为一个平面吸引子和一个点吸引子。虽然这些模型已经被证明是非常有用的概念工具，但支持它们的实验证据虽然很有趣，但仍然大多是间接的。
