A cortex-like architecture of a cellular neural network

The design of an artificial neural architecture based on the organisation of the cerebral cortex is described. Artificial neurons are placed on a three-dimensional grid and have three types of connections: lateral excitatory, lateral inhibitory and long-range associating connections. The lateral connections realize a relaxation process similar to a three-dimensional cellular neural network process. The long-range connections constitute a form of associative memory correlating neuron-activity patterns in different areas of the network. A three-stage neuron processing model is also introduced. Based on this model a family of processing functions for neurons in the artificial network is described. The family contains existing functions (e.g. characterized by linear or integrator equations) as well as novel functions (e.g. characterized by oscillator equations)