Using hysteresis to improve performance in synchronous networks

In this paper, we present a signal-to-noise analysis of synchronous attractor networks of hysteretic threshold elements. The addition of hysteresis is known to enhance the capacity and convergence rate of attractor networks. The aim of this paper is partly to elaborate on results reported previously by other researchers, and to address the issue of whether there is an optimal value for hysteresis. Based on the simplified analysis reported here, we conclude that, for a given network loading (ratio of patterns stored to network size), there is an optimal value of hysteresis, but it changes as recovery proceeds to convergence. We hypothesize that a time-varying “hysteresis schedule” can be used to enhance the performance of attractor networks