Pay R G
Int J Neurosci. 1980;11(4):249-77. doi: 10.3109/00207458009147591.
Short-term memory experiments suggest the presence within the neocortex of a basic information unit (a data structure plus an algorithm) able to store and return a relatively fixed number of items. Units of a similar format may be involved in all cortical motor and sensory activities of an integrated nature, and may interact to yield higher-order-information units dealing with interrelationships among groups of units. If individual units can reference other similar units, a hierarchical organization of computing is possible that could form the basis for contextual information processing and the hierarchical structuring characteristic of many specifically human forms of behavior. Vertical columns of neurons in the cortex may provide the physical basis for information units of the type suggested. The selection and organizing of activity in groups of columns may be regulated by a neural loop involving the basal ganglia and the thalamus, which would thus implement the central adjustment of attention.
短期记忆实验表明，新皮层中存在一种基本信息单元（一种数据结构加一种算法），它能够存储并返回相对固定数量的项目。类似格式的单元可能参与所有具有整合性质的皮层运动和感觉活动，并且可能相互作用以产生处理单元组之间相互关系的高阶信息单元。如果单个单元能够引用其他类似单元，那么就有可能形成一种计算层次结构，它可以构成上下文信息处理以及许多特定人类行为形式的层次结构特征的基础。皮层中垂直排列的神经元柱可能为所提出的这种类型的信息单元提供物理基础。柱群中活动的选择和组织可能受一个涉及基底神经节和丘脑的神经回路调节，从而实现注意力的中枢调节。
