A neural network model of the dynamics of a short-term memory system in the temporal cortex

The temporal area TE of the monkey contains a group of neurons which seems to act as the short-term memory by a sustained firing, where the stored information seems to be retained by a certain kind of equilibrium of a dynamical system. The behavior of this group of neurons cannot be accounted for by the traditional dynamical system realized by the existing neural network models. This paper discusses the short-term memory system in the temporal area, as well as the dynamics of associative memory, and proposes the neural network model which realizes the same dynamical behavior as that of area TE. This model differs essentially from the traditional models in that the composing unit has non-monotonic input/output characteristics and a significant property in analyzing the behavior and the mechanics of the memory circuit in the brain.