Ben Goertzel wrote:
> The neuron = concept
'theory' is extremely broken: it is so broken, that when neuroscientists
talk about bayesian contingencies being calculated or encoded by spike
timing mechanisms, that claim is incoherent.
This is not always true ... in some cases there are solidly demonstrated
connections between neurally computed bayesian contingencies and
observed perceptual and motor phenomena in organisms...
I agree that no one knows how abstract concepts are represented in the brain,
but for sensorimotor stuff it is not the case that work on bayesian population
coding in the brain is "incoherent"
ben g
Also, I believe that in at least a weak sense "grandmother neurons" have
been located. I.e., neuron's which when stimulated result in thoughts
of one's "grandmother". I don't know if this has been demonstrated
beyond particular people, as this is a field of only minor interest to
me. But in that sense, also, a neuron would be a concept.
Though one should notice that the neuron wasn't a full representation of
the grandmother in and of itself. (Though I doubt that anyone's done
the study of destroying a "grandmother neuron" and seeing if the memory
of the grandmother disappeared.)
My non-specialist's model of what's happening here is that prior
experiences have resulted in some particular neuron being sensitized so
that it reacts to thoughts of the grandmother and also when stimulated
causes other cells somewhat similarly trained to respond. If there is
sufficient overlap of...I want to say concept, but my model is really
"zones of activation" with the footnote that these zones aren't
necessarily, or even probably, groups of cells in physical proximity.
Now personally I don't like neural models, because they are too
difficult to understand. So I don't pay much attention to them. But
this is how I understand the "Grandmother neuron" to be created/exist.
(And I'm really fishing for either cooberation or correction.)
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agi
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