Technical Program

Paper Detail

Paper: PS-1B.8
Session: Poster Session 1B
Location: H Fläche 1.OG
Session Time: Saturday, September 14, 16:30 - 19:30
Presentation Time:Saturday, September 14, 16:30 - 19:30
Presentation: Poster
Publication: 2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience, 13-16 September 2019, Berlin, Germany
Paper Title: From episodic to semantic memory: A computational model
Manuscript:  Click here to view manuscript
License: Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32470/CCN.2019.1434-0
Authors: Denis Alevi, Technical University Berlin, Germany; Richard Kempter, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany; Henning Sprekeler, Technical University Berlin, Germany
Abstract: Systems memory consolidation describes the process of transferring and transforming initially hippocampus-dependent declarative memories into stable representations in the neocortex. Experimental evidence indicates that neural replay during sleep is linked to this process. While multiple phenomenological theories of systems consolidation have been proposed, a mechanistic theory on the level of neurons and synapses is missing. Here, we study how episodic memories change over time in a recently suggested computational model for the neuronal basis of systems memory consolidation. We implement the proposed mechanism in artificial neural networks and show that memory transfer in the model facilitates the forgetting of episodic detail in memories and enhances the extraction of semantic generalizations. Moreover, we show that neural replay enhances the speed of consolidation and can in certain situations be necessary for the extraction of semantic memories. The latter appears to be the case specifically for the extraction of semantic content from a rapidly learning hippocampal system.