# How to use the method SpatialPooler.getPermanence?

**URL:** <https://discourse.numenta.org/t/how-to-use-the-method-spatialpooler-getpermanence/3175>\
**Category:** NuPIC\
**Tags:** spatial-pooling\
**Created:** [December 18, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://discourse.numenta.org/t/how-to-use-the-method-spatialpooler-getpermanence/3175 "2017-12-18T16:19:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 4

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**Author:** ![rhyolight](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.numenta.org/rhyolight/32/3922_2.png) [@rhyolight](https://discourse.numenta.org/u/rhyolight)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2017, 8:44pm UTC](https://discourse.numenta.org/t/how-to-use-the-method-spatialpooler-getpermanence/3175/4 "2017-12-18T20:44:24Z")

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They become active because the top % of columns are always selected to be active. There is something wrong with your setup. The first place I would look is your input encodings and SP parameters.

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