Package smile.vq.hebb

Hebbian theory is a neuroscientific theory claiming that an increase in synaptic efficacy arises from a presynaptic cell's repeated and persistent stimulation of a postsynaptic cell.

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Class Summary

Class	Description
Edge	The connection between neurons.
Neuron	The neuron vertex in the growing neural gas network.

Package smile.vq.hebb Description

Hebbian theory is a neuroscientific theory claiming that an increase in synaptic efficacy arises from a presynaptic cell's repeated and persistent stimulation of a postsynaptic cell. It is an attempt to explain synaptic plasticity, the adaptation of brain neurons during the learning process. It was introduced by Donald Hebb in his 1949 book The Organization of Behavior.

The theory is often summarized as "Cells that fire together wire together." This summary, however, should not be taken too literally. Hebb emphasized that cell A needs to "take part in firing" cell B, and such causality can occur only if cell A fires just before, not at the same time as, cell B. This important aspect of causation in Hebb's work foreshadowed what is now known about spike-timing-dependent plasticity, which requires temporal precedence.

The theory attempts to explain associative or Hebbian learning, in which simultaneous activation of cells leads to pronounced increases in synaptic strength between those cells. In the study of neural networks in cognitive function, it is often regarded as the neuronal basis of unsupervised learning.