Figure 1

Autoassociative Memory: Pattern Storage, Completion, and Separation. Autoassociative memory involves the rapid automatic generation of internal representations of sensory stimuli. Key functions of autoassociative memory are depicted with stimulus patterns consisting of visualized airplane silhouettes. A) Pattern storage includes the ability to simultaneously store representations of multiple stimuli, such as similar yet distinct airplane silhouettes. B) Pattern separation fails during pattern storage when multiple distinct stimuli cannot be simultaneously stored without interference. C) Pattern completion is the ability to recall a stored representation when cued by a partial or degraded observation of the stimulus, such as when an airplane is obscured behind a cloud. D) Pattern completion fails when the degraded stimulus is insufficient to result in recall of the entire stored representation.