---
title: "Virtual Lateral Inhibition in Parallel Activation Models of Associative Memory"
authors:
  - "James A. Reggia"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1985/45"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1985/0045.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the Ninth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1985
pages: "244-247"
track: "Cognitive Modelling"
keywords:
---

# Virtual Lateral Inhibition in Parallel Activation Models of Associative Memory

James A. Reggia

*Proceedings of the Ninth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, pages 244-247.

## Abstract

This paper describes a new theory of how spreading activation may occur in associative memory models formulated as parallel activation networks. The theory postulates that competition for activation by nodes/concepts in a network is a fundamental principle of memory retrieval. Using only excitatory connections between concepts, a specific implementation of this model is able to demonstrate "virtual lateral inhibition" between competitors and other interesting behaviors that have required use of explicit inhibitory connections in the past.