# Trying to understand how to advance HTM

**URL:** <https://discourse.numenta.org/t/trying-to-understand-how-to-advance-htm/4582>\
**Category:** Tangential Theories\
**Created:** [September 18, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://discourse.numenta.org/t/trying-to-understand-how-to-advance-htm/4582 "2018-09-18T21:16:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![Paul\_Lamb](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.numenta.org/paul_lamb/32/2725_2.png) [@Paul\_Lamb](https://discourse.numenta.org/u/Paul_Lamb)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://discourse.numenta.org/t/trying-to-understand-how-to-advance-htm/4582/2 "2018-09-18T21:56:21Z")

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I think there are a couple of reasons HTM isn’t currently suited for vision tasks.

One problem is that hierarchy is not yet a part of HTM. The algorithms which are good at vision tend to utilize multi-layer hierarchies.

The second is that vision is really a sensory motor task if I understand it properly. The eyes move over the image to explore it. A coordinate system and scale need to be established from these movements (and through voting between neighboring sensory surfaces).

This quote from Jeff was helpful to me for understanding the idea:

> [@Neuroscience behind Temporal Pooling](https://discourse.numenta.org/t/neuroscience-behind-temporal-pooling/1576/5):
>
> if you look at an object through a straw you might have to move the straw multiple times before recognizing the object, but with a full retina you can recognize it in one glance. Or, if you touch an unknown object with one finger (no vision) you probably can’t tell what the object is without multiple touches, but if you grab the object with multiple fingers you can often tell what it is in one touch.

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