Salu Y
Biosystems. 1985;18(1):93-103. doi: 10.1016/0303-2647(85)90062-0.
Our environment consists of virtually an infinite number of scenarios in which we have to function. In order to respond properly to an incoming stimulus, the brain has first to analyze it, and to find out the basic familiar elements that are part of it. In other words, by using a library which contains a relatively small number of basic concepts, the brain analyzes the multitude of incoming events. Some of those basic concepts are innate, but many of them must be learned, in order to accommodate for the arbitrary environment around us. A classifying box is defined as the neural network that finds out the familiar concepts that are present in an incoming stimulus. Models for classifying boxes are introduced, and possible mechanisms by which they may establish their libraries of concepts are suggested, and then compared and evaluated by computer simulations.