Memory recall by controlling chaos

Abstract

By incorporating feedback loops, that engender amplification and damping so that output is not proportional to input, the biological neural networks become highly nonlinear and thus very likely chaotic in nature. Research in control theory reveals that strange attractors can be approximated by collection of cycles, and be collapsed into a more coherent state centered on one of them if we exert control. We speculate that human memories are encoded by such cycles, and can be retrieved once sensory or virtual cues, acting as references, enable feedback controls that nucleates the otherwise chaotic wandering mind.