Nested-Clique Network Model of Neural Associative Memory

On Neural Associative Memory Structures: Storage and Retrieval of Sequences in a Chain of Tournaments

Associative memories enjoy many interesting properties in terms of error correction capabilities, robustness to noise, storage capacity, and retrieval performance, and their usage spans over a large set of applications. In this letter, we investigate and extend tournament-based neural networks, originally proposed by Jiang, Gripon, Berrou, and Rabbat (2016), a novel sequence storage associative memory architecture with high memory efficiency and accurate sequence retrieval. We propose a more general method for learning the sequences, which we call feedback tournament-based neural networks. The retrieval process is also extended to both directions: forward and backward-in other words, any large-enough segment of a sequence can produce the whole sequence. Furthermore, two retrieval algorithms, cache-winner and explore-winner, are introduced to increase the retrieval performance. Through simulation results, we shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of each algorithm.

Sparse Associative Memory

It is still unknown how associative biological memories operate. Hopfield networks are popular models of associative memory, but they suffer from spurious memories and low efficiency. Here, we present a new model of an associative memory that overcomes these deficiencies. We call this model sparse associative memory (SAM) because it is based on sparse projections from neural patterns to pattern-specific neurons. These sparse projections have been shown to be sufficient to uniquely encode a neural pattern. Based on this principle, we investigate theoretically and in simulation our SAM model, which turns out to have high memory efficiency and a vanishingly small probability of spurious memories. This model may serve as a basic building block of brain functions involving associative memory.