A group of questions based on reading about the two grid-cell models

[Bitking]

I will leave it to @rhyolight to answer questions about how Numenta thinks grid cells and layers work.

As far as your nibbling at the edges of object representation (questions 4 & 7) - we were toying with that same question in another thread. When you are thinking about apple vs orange on the table you have to sort out where the properties are being represented. I see that this is more a question of hierarchy and not so much as a layer thing; the H of HTM. The WHAT stream is processing the cluster of features that make an object, the WHERE is dealing with the location. These fragments are combined at about the level of the temporal lobe into an experience.

Performing basic math with grid and displacement cells

A not philosophical answer - amplifying what was said above about the construction of “mathematics.” Much of what we think of as “thinking” is really learned procedures, many associated with learning a language including the vasty important trick of linking a sensation (sound or sight) to a cluster of facts - symbolic representation. Please check out this post: Note the bit about learning that things could have a name; this comes with language. This is one of the basic supports that “math” …

I refer you to this post on the WHAT and WHERE streams, perhaps more detailed than the current question warrants:

What's the difference between layers and levels in the context of the HTM theory?

I will be the first to agree that naming in neuroscience could be better. As I understand it, the sheet of the cortex is composed of what is generally recognized as six layers. The outer layer (one furthest from the center of the brain) is called layer one The bottom is generally called layer six. These are not hard and fast divisions as the whole concept of what makes up a layer is pretty loose at this time. There are some that consider the thalamus as the 7th layer. This same sheet of the …

This is how I visualize the various maps and streams working together - a bit cheesy but very visual:

Follow-up question to Podcast 1 with Jeff (location, orientation, and attention)

This might get a bit sketchy without pictures and supporting papers so please bear with me. Maybe this idea will help and maybe it will make things totally confused: A lightning ball! [lightning%20ball] Imagine each arc as the activation of a single area/map with the thalamus as the controlling element that projects the basic alpha drive to unify each maps activity. Now: At the same time add in a pattern of local loops that are joining map-to-map in the hierarchy to the hub of each of the co…