=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=None
|storemode=property
|title=If You Fire Together, You Wire Together; Hebb's Law Revisited
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-941/aih2012_Sadananda.pdf
|volume=Vol-941
}}
==If You Fire Together, You Wire Together; Hebb's Law Revisited==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-941/aih2012_Sadananda.pdf
AIH 2012
If
you
fire
together,
you
wire
together
Prajni
Sadananda1,
Ramakoti
Sadananda2,
3
1
Department
of
Anatomy
and
Neuroscience,
University
of
Melbourne
Australian,
Australia
prajni.sadananda@unimelb.edu.au
2
Institute
for
Integrated
and
Intelligent
Systems,
Griffith
University,
Australia
3
NICTA,
Sydney
Australia
rsadananda@griffith.edu.au
The
intention
of
this
paper
is
to
stimulate
discussion
on
Hebb’s
Law
and
its
pedagogic
implications.
At
a
basic
cellular
level,
Hebb’s
Law
states
that
is
Cell
A
and
Cell
B
persis-‐
tently
fire,
the
connection
between
them
strengthens.
Figure
1
illustrates
the
interactions.
This
is
a
cellular
levels
process,
suggesting
that
brain
pro-‐
cesses
that
occur
repeartedly
tend
to
become
grafted
together
[1].
Fig
1.
Hebb’s
Law.
Repeated
stimulation
results
in
a
stronger
signal
89
AIH 2012
This
scientific
theory
explains
the
adaptation
of
neurons
during
the
learn-‐
ing
process.
Importantly,
this
type
of
plasticity
does
not
involve
increasing
the
number
of
cells,
but
rather
strengthening
the
existing
cells’
connectivity.
Understanding
such
biological
phenomena
opens
up
new
paradigms
and
laws
that
AI
can
utilise.
The
question
is
whether
Hebb’s
law
would
stand
at
a
higher
level
of
abstraction?
There
are
suggestive,
but
not
conclusive
indica-‐
tions.
For
example,
a
friendship
is
considered
stronger
with
time,
indicating
a
strengthening
of
wiring
between
the
friends.
Models
based
on
“firing
together
to
wire
together”
have
been
suggested
in
health
and
therapy
[2].
For
example,
if
a
patient
presents
with
a
mental
trauma
that
causes
extreme
anger,
the
therapist
introduces
a
counter
and
positive
stimulus
that
occurs
whenever
the
anger
occurs.
Both
(anger
and
the
positive
stimulus)
are
repeated
over
and
over
again,
thus
following
Hebb’s
Law
and
adding
strength
to
this
connection
between
the
two
stimuli,
resulting
in
relief
to
the
patient.
This
also
implies
causal
and
temporal
conjectures
based
on
causality.
The
causality
is
in
the
firing
sequence;
that
if
A
fires
first
and
then
B
fires,
A
is
the
cause.
If
B
fires
before
A,
a
reverse
interpretation
is
possible
that
may
de-‐
crease
the
strength
between
them.
There
seems
evidence
to
suggest
that
the
“firing”
and
“wiring”
may
be
a
sequential
process.
Causality
is
a
subject
of
intense
philosophical
interest
from
ancient
times.
Most
causal
models
are
rule-‐based
systems.
They
demand
descriptions
of
the
world
at
two
points
in
time
–
a
before
and
an
after.
Two
problems
arise
here:
the
practical
computational
compulsions
make
these
rules
crudely
simplistic.
In
addition,
it
is
challenging
to
incorporate
temporal
effects
within
the
framework
of
rule
based
systems.
Hebb’s
law,
while
suggesting
causali-‐
ty,
does
not
provide
any
quantification.
Thus,
it
is
unlikely
that
an
alternative
formulation
of
causation
would
emerge
from
Hebb’s
law
alone.
We
may
look
for
another,
additional
neural
network
perspective
of
causation
here.
Nevertheless,
causality
as
implied
with
Hebb’s
law
has
been
used
in
sci-‐
entific
research
and
therapeutics
to
a
large’
extent.
For
example,
oftentimes
doctors
complain
of
their
patients
being
unable
to
add
minor
and
incremen-‐
tal
changes
in
their
daily
routines
(such
as
exercise).
Understanding
Hebb’s
law
will
open
new
insights
into
why
this
might
be
so.
It
is
possible
that
the
patient
is
not
yet
“wired”
in
this
activity
and
requires
more
“firing”
before
90
AIH 2012
these
changes
can
be
established.
An
avenue
for
AI
research
is
to
aide
in
the
development
of
tools
to
help
such
people
to
“re-‐wire”.
Indeed,
such
tools
exist
to
some
extent
to
treat
spinal
cord
injured
pa-‐
tients
who
have
lost
motor
control
of
their
limbs.
In
a
non-‐injured
situation,
the
brain
delivers
pulses
to
the
lower
limbs
in
a
rhythmic/patterned
fashion
to
allow
walking
action.
Once
a
spinal
injury
occurs,
the
connectivity
from
the
brain
to
the
limbs
is
lost,
thereby
leaving
the
patient
immobile.
Stimula-‐
tors
are
often
placed
below
the
level
of
the
injury,
which
deliver
patterned
pulses
in
a
similar
manner
to
what
the
brain
was
previously
doing.
Over
a
period
of
time,
a
spinal
pattern
generator
emerges,
which
thus
allows
some
motion
of
the
lower
limbs
[3].
This
area
of
research
is
as
yet
in
its
infancy
and
calls
for
a
better,
more
intelligent
systems
to
aide
these
patients.
Conclusions:
Artificial
intelligence
in
health
opens
up
chapters
of
great
opportunities
and
exciting
challenges.
The
logical
calculus
articulated
by
McCulloch
and
Pitts
[4]
forms
the
initial
basis
for
both
Symbolic
and
Connectionist
AI.
Since
then
a
number
of
paradigms
have
emerged
on
all
aspects
of
AI
and
relating
to
health
and
health
care.
The
emergence
of
the
convergence
of
computing
and
communication
provides
us
boundless
opportunities
to
exploit
these
paradigms
and
discover
the
new
ones.
ReferenceƐ:
1. Hebb,
D.
O.:
Organization
of
Behavior:
a
Neuropsychological
Theory.
John
Wiley,
New
York
(1949).
2. Atkinson,
B.,
Atkinson,
L.,
Kutz,
P.,
Lata,
L.,
Lata,
K.W.,
Szekely,
J.,
Weiss,
P.:
Rewiring
Neural
States
in
Couples
Therapy:
Advances
from
Affective
Neuroscience.
In:
Journal
of
Systemic
Therapies.
24,
3-‐13
(2005)
3. Edgerton,
V.R.,
Roy,
R.R.:
A
new
age
for
rehabilitation.
Eur
J
Phys
Re-‐
habil
Med.
48,
99-‐109
(2012)
4. McCulloch,
W.S.,
Pitts,
W.:
A
logical
Calculus
of
the
ideas
immanent
in
nervous
activity,
Bulletin
of
mathematical
Biophysics.
5,
115-‐137
(1943).
91