No clock to rule them all

Wahiba Taouali (1) , Thierry Viéville (1) , Nicolas P. Rougier (1) , Frédéric Alexandre (1)

1 CORTEX - Neuromimetic intelligence

This article introduces general concepts and definitions related to the notion of asynchronous computation in the framework of artificial neural networks. Using the dynamic field theory as an illustrative example, we explain why one may want to perform such asynchronous computation and how one can implement it since this computational scheme draws several consequences on both the trajectories and the stability of the whole system. After giving an unequivocal definition of asynchronous computation, we present a few practically usable methods and quantitative bounds that can guarantee most of the mesoscopic properties of the system.

Mots clés: Neural networks; Central clock; Dynamic neural fields; Asynchronous computation; Numerical methods

Domaines: Réseau de neurones [cs.NE]; Analyse numérique [cs.NA]

Wahiba Taouali, Thierry Viéville, Nicolas P. Rougier, Frédéric Alexandre. No clock to rule them all. Journal of Physiology - Paris, 2011, 105 (1-3), pp.83-90. ⟨10.1016/j.jphysparis.2011.08.005⟩. ⟨inria-00636532⟩