According to a press release from 27 March 2014, the researchers’ focus is on associative memory models. This term describes the human ability to remember important things by associating them with an event. This makes the human memory different from computer storage, which catalogues data instead of associating them with one other.

“Associative memory models play an important role in cognitive research,” says Professor Dr. Ing Ulrich Rückert. He is head of the research group “Cognitronics and Sensor Technology” in the Faculty of Technology at Bielefeld University, also part of the “Center of Excellence - Cognitive Interaction Technology” (CITEC) at Bielefeld University. In the field of cognitive science non-human primates are traditionally used. Within the EU project, Rückert’s research group is responsible for investigating the architecture of neural associative memory based on the concept of “spiking neural networks”. The model picks up on the observation that one neuron excites another nerve cell by firing off a weak impulse toward it. Scientists call such impulses “spikes”. It is the spikes that ensure that information can be processed in the brain.

For more information (in German):
http://idw-online.de/pages/de/news578998

Click here for the Human Brain Project: https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/