This chapter describes one basic model of associative memory, called the sparse distributed memory, and relates it to other models and circuits: to ordinary computer memory, to correlation-matrix memories, to feed-forward artificial neural nets, to neural circuits in the brain, and to associative-memory models of the cerebellum. Presenting the various designs within one framework will hopefully help the reader see the similarities and the differences in designs that are often described in different ways.
Pentti Kanerva, “Sparse Distributed Memory and Related Models,” in M.H. Hassoun, ed., Associative Neural Memories: Theory and Implementation, pp. 50–76. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.