Self-Organizing Feature Maps
Christian Jacob
CPSC 565 — Winter 2003 Department of Computer Science University of Calgary Canada Self-Organization
In this chapter we consider unsupervised learning by self-organization. For these models, a correct output cannot be defined a priori. Therefore, a numerical measure of the magnitude of the mapping error cannot be used to derive a learning (weight adapta- tion) technique.
The Brain as a Self-Organizing, Adaptive System
The brain adapts its structure in a self-organized fashion by changing the interconnections among neurons: † adding neurons and/or connections † removing neurons and/or connections † strengthening: Ë increasing the number of transmitters released at synapses Ë increase the size of the synaptic cleft Ë forming new synapses. Donald Hebb (1949) explicitly stated conditions that allow changes at the synaptic level to reflect learning and memory: