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This story is from the category Artificial Intelligence
Date posted: 09/05/2012 Nanotechnology scientists and memory researchers at the Kiel University redesigned a mental learning process using electronic circuits. The bell rings and the dog starts drooling. Such a reaction was part of studies performed by Ivan Pavlov, a famous Russian psychologist and physiologist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1904. His experiment, nowadays known as "Pavlov's Dog," is ever since considered as a milestone for implicit learning processes. By using specific electronic components scientists form the Technical Faculty and the Memory Research at the Kiel University together with the Forschungszentrum Jülich were now able to mimic the behavior of Pavlov`s dog. The study is published in the current issue of Advanced Functional Materials. Digital and biological information processing are based on fundamentally different principles. Modern computers are able to work on mathematical-logical problems at an extremely high pace. In fact, procedures in the computer's central processing unit and in the storage media run serially. While digital computers have shown immense success throughout the years in certain fields, they reveal weaknesses when it comes to pattern recognition and cognitive tasks. "However, to imitate biological information processing systems recognition and cognitive tasks are essential. Mammal brains -- and therefore also the brains of humans -- decode information in complex neuronal networks of synapses with up to 1014 (100 Trillion) connections. However, the connectivity between neurons is not fixed. "Learning means that new connections between neurons are created, or existing connections are reinforced or weakened," says PD Dr. Thorsten Bartsch of the Clinic for Neurology. This is called neuronal plasticity. Is it possible to design neural circuits with electronic devices to mimic learning? At this crossroad between neurobiology, material science and nanoelectronics, scientists from the University of Kiel are collaborating with their colleagues from the Research Center Jülich. Now, they have succeeded in electronically recreating the classical "Pavlov's Dog" experiment. "We used memristive devices in order to mimic the associative behaviour of Pavlov's dog in form of an electronic circuit," explains Professor Hermann Kohlstedt, head of the working group Nanoelectronics at the University of Kiel. See the full Story via external site: www.sciencedaily.com Most recent stories in this category (Artificial Intelligence): 18/04/2013: NASA's Plan to Advance Robotics by Robotically Capturing small Asteroid |
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