Behavioral Tests of a Prediction From a Cortical Network Simulation

Behavioral predictions arising from a simulation of olfactory paleocortex were examined using rats in an olfactory discrimination-learning task. The animals were tested to see whether, as predicted, they would recognize novel similar odors as members of a category, and whether they would nonetheless distinguish and recognize individual category members. The results were positive, providing the first evidence that rats learn perceptual clusters via unsupervised learning.