Spontaneous generation of selectable variation in the brain

Selection models of behavior presuppose selectable variation, diversity in the brain that is stable over time. Diversity can arise spontaneously through the mutual interactions of cell assemblies, which are postulated to align or disalign their neighbors into processing modes conforming to or opposite from their own. These processes are similar to magnetization and crystallization. If aligning and disaligning influences are distributed at random, a state resembling a spin glass can arise, where processing modes are highly varied in space but stable in time. If disalignment occurs regularly at the points of a two-dimensional lattice, and elsewhere the interactions are aligning, a pattern emerges with properties remarkably similar to visual orientation columns. These patterns are maintained dynamically, and emerge statistically without detailed genetic specification.Special issue dedicated to Dr. Eugene Roberts.