A spatio-temporal-based concept for associative memory modeling with memristors

Abstract

Spatio-temporal encoding in neural systems refers to the representation of information through the combined spatial and temporal patterns of neuronal activity and plays a fundamental role in various brain biological functions, such as higher cognitive processes, including the memory effect. Memory is an intricate process in human cognition and this bio-inspired function can be replicated by novel hardware components. Memristors can imitate the memory effect as they appear to have non-volatile characteristics, and they can also constitute the switching component of memristive-based oscillators acting as neurons for designing complex network structures in order to replicate the human brain behavior. In this paper, a spatio-temporal encoding scheme is being evaluated under a hardware-oriented concept integrating memristive novel devices, aiming to replicate the way associative memory works, and paving the way for novel approaches in brain-inspired computing systems.