B-trees and memory recall...

[petrushka.googol]

In computer science, a B-tree is a tree data structure that keeps data sorted and allows searches, sequential access, insertions, and deletions in logarithmic time.

 

My contention is that internally human memory could be analogous to this structure, albeit with a very large number of leaf nodes.

 

When a particular activity takes place that was done before, it is validated against past experiences based on the b-tree search, and if the experience is analogous to an already experienced set of phenomena, then the course of action is more or less in line with that taken earlier.

 

This could explain the concept of a reflex arc. For oft repeated actions the response is traversed in less time (you could think of it as a preferred path and is traversed with minimum gestation. (much like finding the path home, where the one most traversed is associated with the least time - since there are less internal validations to be done before arriving at the final destination.))

 

Is this a simplistic model or expressive of reality?

 

Please express your ideas.

[pwagen]

From what I can remember, this seems to be similar to what Jeff Hawkins writes in his book "On Intelligence", regarding how our brains are built.

 

Can recommend that book if you want to know more (or ask, and I could look it up and do a poor job of paraphrasing from it).

[EdEarl]

Jeff Hawkins describes the neocortex as organized as a Hierarchical Temporal Memory, but the entire brain is more complex. Moreover, it is a multiprocessor with about a 100G neurons and 100,000G of synapses.