IF YOU recall this sentence a few seconds from now, you can thank a simple network of neurons for the experience. That’s the conclusions of researchers who have built a computer model that can reproduce an important aspect of short-term memory. The key, they say, is that the neurons form a “small world” network.
Small-world networks are surprisingly common. Human social networks, for example, famously connect any two people on Earth – or any actor to Kevin Bacon – in six steps or less. Properties like this have made them the focus of much research. It turns out that regardless…
