13.6 Glocal Memory 267
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Fig. 138.2: Calvin’s Model of Distributed Attractors in the Brain
hypotheses interesting and highly promising, yet feel it is also important to separate out the notion of glocal memory for separate consideration.
Regarding specifics, our suggestion is that Calvin’s approach may overemphasize the dis- tributed aspect of memory, not giving sufficient due to the relatively localized aspect as ac- counted for in the [QKIKF08] results discussed above. In Calvin’s glocal approach, global mem- ories are attractors and local memories are parts of attractors. We suggest a possible alternative, in which global memories are attractors and local memories are particular neuronal subnetworks such as the specialized ones identified by [QIXIKF 08]. However, this alternative does not seem contradictory to Calvin’s overall conceptual approach, even though it is different from the par- ticular proposals made in [Cal96].
The above paragraphs are far from a complete survey of the relevant neuroscience literature; there are literally dozens of studies one could survey pointing toward the glocality of various sorts of human memory. Yet experimental neuroscience tools are still relatively primitive, and every one of these studies could be interpreted in various other ways. In the next couple decades, as neuroscience tools improve in accuracy, our understanding of the role of glocality in human memory will doubtless improve tremendously.
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