Statistical Mechanics of Neural Networks

DEC 01, 1988

Studies of disordered systems have generated new insights into the cooperative behavior and emergent computational properties of large, highly connected networks of simple, neuron‐like processors.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881142

Haim Sompolinsky

A neural network is a large, highly interconnected assembly of simple elements. The elements, called neurons, are usually two‐state devices that switch from one state to the other when their input exceeds a specific threshold value. In this respect the elements resemble biological neurons, which fire—that is, send a voltage pulse down their axons—when the sum of the inputs from their synapses exceeds a “firing” threshold. Neural networks therefore serve as models for studies of cooperative behavior and computational properties of the sort exhibited by the nervous system.

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More about the authors

Haim Sompolinsky, Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.