CLA Glossary
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What should go in this area?
This is a re-write of the CLA Whitepaper Glossary (plus any other terms/concepts we want to highlight) where the explanations are targeted at ML/AI researchers.
Terms, concepts and strategies that appear in CLA documentation, presentations, or code should be listed here.
For each term:
- Similar terms or strategies in the traditional community should be briefly discussed.
- Citations for descriptions of ML/AI terms. e.g. Links to scholarly articles or wikipedia articles.
- The distinction between the CLA term and the traditional term should be carefully noted.
- Links to NuPIC documentation, or code that explore this idea further.
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Active State
n. A state in which Cells are active due to Feed-Forward input.
- NN equivalent: Output of a neuron. Binary valued.
Boosting
TODO
Bottom-Up
adj. Synonym for Feed-Forward
Cells
n. HTM equivalent of a Neuron in NNs. Basic unit of computation in CLA. Cells are more complex than
NN neurons, in that they have two types of Dendrites -
Proximal (feed-forward) and Distal (predictive) - and a more complex internal state.
Instead of having a scalar output as in NN, Cells have a binary Active State.
Again unlike NNs, Cell activity is based on a combination of factors, not just feed-forward input.
Cells are organized into Columns in HTM regions. In NuPIC, all Cells in a Column share FF input
(ie they have a single proximal dendrite segment for feed-forward).
Coincident Activity
n. Two or more Cells are active at the same time.
Column
n. A group of one or more Cells that function as a unit
in an HTM Region
Cells within a column represent the same feed-forward input, but in different contexts.
Dendrite Segment
n. A unit of integration of Synapses associated with Cells and Columns
HTMs have two different types of dendrite segments:
- Distal segments are associated with lateral connections to a cell, and measure coincident activity. When the number of active synapses on the dendrite segment exceeds a threshold, the associated cell enters the predictive state.
- The Proximal dendrite is associated with feed-forward connections to a column (ie shared by the columnâs cells). The number of active synapses is summed to generate the feed-forward activation of a column.
Desired Density [NuPIC-specific]
param. Desired percentage of Columns active due to Feed-Forward input to a Region
The percentage only applies within a radius that varies based on the fan-out of feed-forward inputs. It is desired because the percentage varies some based on the particular input.
The desired density of active columns within a local
inhibition area (the size of which is set by the
internally calculated inhibitionRadius, which is in
turn determined from the average size of the
connected potential pools of all columns). The
inhibition logic will ensure that at most N columns
remain on within a local inhibition area, where N =
localAreaDensity * (total number of columns in
inhibition area).
Dimensions, Input, Spatial Pooler [NuPIC-specific]
param. A number, list or numpy array representing the dimensions of the input vector.
Format is [height, width, depth, ...], where each value represents the size of the dimension. For a topology of one dimension with 100 inputs use 100, or [100]. For a two dimensional topology of 10x5 use [10,5]
Dimensions, Columns, Spatial Pooler [NuPIC-specific]
param. A number, list or numpy array representing the dimensions of the columns in the region.
Format is [height, width, depth, ...], where each value represents the size of the dimension. For a topology of one dimesion with 2000 columns use 2000, or [2000]. For a three dimensional topology of 32x64x16 use [32,64,16]
Duty Cycle [NuPIC-specific]
param.
TODO
Duty Cycle, Minimum Percent Overlap [NuPIC-specific]
param. A number between 0 and 1.0, used to set a floor on how often a column
should have at least stimulusThreshold active inputs.
TODO specify param name minSomething
Periodically, each column looks at the overlap duty cycle of
all other column within its inhibition radius and
sets its own internal minimal acceptable duty cycle
to: minPctDutyCycleBeforeInh * max(other columnsâ
duty cycles).
On each iteration, any column whose overlap duty
cycle falls below this computed value will get
all of its permanence values boosted up by
synPermActiveInc. Raising all permanences in response
to a sub-par duty cycle before inhibition allows a
cell to search for new inputs when either its
previously learned inputs are no longer ever active,
or when the vast majority of them have been
âhijackedâ by other columns.
Duty Cycle, Minimum Percent Active
TODO
A number between 0 and 1.0, used to set a floor on
how often a column should be activate.
Periodically, each column looks at the activity duty
cycle of all other columns within its inhibition
radius and sets its own internal minimal acceptable
duty cycle to:
minPctDutyCycleAfterInh *
max(other columnsâ duty cycles).
On each iteration, any column whose duty cycle after
inhibition falls below this computed value will get
its internal boost factor increased.
Duty Cycle, Period
TODO
The period used to calculate duty cycles. Higher
values make it take longer to respond to changes in
boost or synPerConnectedCell. Shorter values make it
more unstable and likely to oscillate.
Encoder
obj. Unlike in NNs, inputs to HTMs are binary vectors (or higher-dimensional matrices). Encoders are needed to
convert real-world or machine-generated data into bit arrays for use by HTM Regions. The output of an encoder
is similar to a Sparse Distributed Representation (SDR) but usually is not nearly as sparse.
Encoders in NuPIC are often nested to combine different fields in the data (e.g. timestamp and temperature), and
also to combine different semantic aspects of a single value (e.g. timestamp.timeofday and timestamp.isweekend).
When creating an encoder, you usually specify the overall width of the output n bits, and the width of the window
of w on-bits in each encoding.
Encoder, Category
obj. Encodes each of a list of categories with a unique set of bits. In NuPIC, a simple category encoder might have the following outputs:
| Input | Output (n = 16, w = 4) |
|---|---|
| Animal | 1111000000000000 |
| Vegetable | 0000111100000000 |
| Mineral | 0000000011110000 |
| Other | 0000000000001111 |
Encoder, Passthrough
obj. Passes its input straight through to its receiver. What you use when the input is already an SDR,
for example when the output of one Region is passed to a higher-level one.
Also used when the input to the whole system is an SDR, eg. for CEPT Retina representations of text.
Encoder, Scalar
obj. Encodes a scalar (floating-point) value.
Feed-Forward (aka FF)
Moving in a direction away from an input, or from a lower Level to a higher Level in a Hierarchy (sometimes called Bottom-Up).
In CLA, feed-forward inputs to a Cell are connected to its
Feedback
TODO moving in a direction towards an input, or from a higher Level to a lower level in a Hierarchy (sometimes called Top-Down)
First Order Prediction
TODO a prediction based only on the current input and not on the prior inputs â compare to Variable Order Prediction
Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM)
TODO a technology that replicates some of the structural and
algorithmic functions of the neocortex
Hierarchy
TODO a network of connected elements where the connections between the elements are uniquely identified as Feed-Forward or Feedback
HTM Cortical Learning Algorithms
TODO the suite of functions for Spatial Pooling, Temporal
Pooling, and learning and forgetting that comprise an HTM Region, also referred to as HTM Learning Algorithms
HTM Network
TODO a Hierarchy of HTM Regions
HTM Region
TODO the main unit of memory and Prediction in an HTM
An HTM region is comprised of a layer of highly interconnected cells arranged in columns. An HTM region today has a single layer of cells, whereas in the neocortex (and ultimately in HTM), a region will have multiple layers of cells. When referred to in the context of itâs position in a hierarchy, a region may be referred to as a level.
Inference
TODO recognizing a spatial and temporal input pattern as similar to previously learned patterns
Inhibition
TODO
Inhibition, Number Active Per Area - Spatial Pooler
TODO
An alternate way to control the density of the active
columns. If numActivePerInhArea is specified then
localAreaDensity must less than 0, and vice versa.
When using numActivePerInhArea, the inhibition logic
will insure that at most ânumActivePerInhAreaâ
columns remain ON within a local inhibition area (the
size of which is set by the internally calculated
inhibitionRadius, which is in turn determined from
the average size of the connected receptive fields of
all columns). When using this method, as columns
learn and grow their effective receptive fields, the
inhibitionRadius will grow, and hence the net density
of the active columns will decrease. This is in
contrast to the localAreaDensity method, which keeps
the density of active columns the same regardless of
the size of their receptive fields.
Inhibition, Global - Spatial Pooler
TODO defines the area around a Column that it actively inhibits
If true, then during inhibition phase the winning
columns are selected as the most active columns from
the region as a whole. Otherwise, the winning columns
are selected with resepct to their local
neighborhoods. using global inhibition boosts
performance x60.
Inhibition Radius
TODO defines the area around a Column that it actively inhibits
Input, Encoder
TODO
Input - Spatial Pooler
TODO
Input - Temporal Pooler
TODO
Lateral Connections
TODO connections between Cells within the same Region
Level
TODO an HTM Region in the context of the Hierarchy
Neuron
TODO an information processing Cell in the brain
In this document, we use the word neuron specifically when referring to biological cells, and âcellâ when referring to the HTM unit of computation.
Overlap - Spatial Pooler
TODO
Permanence
TODO a scalar value which indicates the connection state of a Potential Synapse
A permanence value below a threshold indicates the synapse is not formed. A permanence value above the threshold indicates the synapse is valid. Learning in an HTM region is accomplished by modifying permanence values of potential synapses.
Permanence Decrement
TODO The amount by which an inactive synapse is decremented in each round.
Permanence Decrement, Orphaned columns
TODO The amount by which an inactive synapse is decremented in each round.
The amount by which to decrease the permanence of an
active synapse on a column which has high overlap
with the input, but was inhibited (an âorphanâ
column).
Permanence Increment
TODO
The amount by which an active synapse is incremented
in each round.
Potential Synapse (Pool)
TODO the subset of all Cells that could potentially form Synapses with a particular Dendrite Segment
Only a subset of potential synapses will be valid synapses at any time based on their permanence value.
Potential Radius - Spatial Pooler
TODO the subset of all Cells that could potentially form Synapses with a particular Dendrite Segment
This parameter determines the extent of the input
that each column can potentially be connected to.
This can be thought of as the input bits that
are visible to each column, or a âreceptiveFieldâ of
the field of vision. A large enough value will result
in the âglobal coverageâ, meaning that each column
can potentially be connected to every input bit. This
parameter defines a square (or hyper square) area: a
column will have a max square potential pool with
sides of length 2 * potentialRadius + 1.
Potential Percent - Spatial Pooler
The percent of the inputs, within a columnâs
potential radius, that a column can be connected to.
If set to 1, the column will be connected to every
input within its potential radius. This parameter is
used to give each column a unique potential pool when
a large potentialRadius causes overlap between the
columns. At initialization time we choose
((2*potentialRadius + 1)^(# inputDimensions) *
potentialPct) input bits to comprise the columnâs
potential pool.
Prediction
TODO activating Cells (into a predictive state) that will likely become active in the near future due to Feed-Forward input
An HTM region often predicts many possible future inputs at the same time.
Receptive Field
TODO the set of inputs to which a Column or Cell is connected
If the input to an HTM region is organized as a 2D array of bits, then the receptive field can be expressed as a radius within the input space.
Sensor
TODO a source of inputs for an HTM Network
Sparse Distributed Representation (SDR)
TODO representation comprised of many bits in which a small percentage are active and where no single bit is sufficient to convey meaning
Kanerva - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparse_distributed_memory
Spatial Pooler
TODO
Spatial Pooling
TODO the process of forming a sparse distributed representation of an input
One of the properties of spatial pooling is that overlapping input patterns map to the same sparse distributed representation.
Sub-Sampling
TODO recognizing a large distributed pattern by matching only a small subset of the active bits in the large pattern
Synapse
TODO connection between Cells formed while learning
Temporal Pooler
TODO
Temporal Pooling
TODO the process of forming a representation of a sequence of input patterns where the resulting representation is more stable than the input
Threshold, Connected - Spatial Pooler
TODO
The default connected threshold. Any synapse whose
permanence value is above the connected threshold is
a âconnected synapseâ, meaning it can contribute to
the cellâs firing.
Threshold, Stimulus - Spatial Pooler
TODO
This is a number specifying the minimum number of
synapses that must be on in order for a columns to
turn ON. The purpose of this is to prevent noise
input from activating columns.
Top-Down
TODO synonym for Feedback
Variable Order Prediction
TODO a prediction based on varying amounts of prior context â compare to First Order Prediction
It is called âvariableâ because the memory to maintain prior context is allocated as needed. Thus a memory system that implements variable order prediction can use context going way back in time without requiring exponential amounts of memory.