The pump of thought model1 is a theoretical cell assembly model that explains how thoughts represented by assemblies can be propagated and changed by the brain. The process of human problem solving is described by this model as the transformation of thoughts through a sequence of assemblies. Activation of a critical number of neurons within the assembly leads to the activation of the entire assembly, so that manipulations on the representation of a complex object are performed. Thoughts can be represented by verbal rules. Verbal rules are based on discrete features2 and allow the representation of symbolic rules. A symbolic rule contains several if-patterns and one or more then-patterns. A pattern in the context corresponds to a set of features. The similarity between rules is denned as a function of the features they have in common. A rule can establish a new assertion by the then part (its conclusion) whenever the if part (its premise) is true. We present a straightforward transformation from the symbolic rules into a distributed representation by associative memory with practical examples (diagnostic systems). Problem solving by cell assemblies is modelled by an associative memory with feedback connections.
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