Human memory as a \(p\)-adic dynamical system (Q1567932)

The authors propose a mathematical model of the human memory-retrieval process. It is assumed that the configuration space \(X\) (``the set of ideas'') has a tree structure. All ideas have a common root. There exist ideas with an infinite complexity described by infinitely long branches of the tree \(X\). Two ideas are close if they have a sufficiently long initial segment in common. As a particular example, it is assumed that \(X=\mathbb Z_p\), the set of \(p\)-adic integers. The behaviour of the dynamical system \[ \mathbb Z_p\to \mathbb Z_p,\quad x\mapsto x^2+c, \] where \(c\in \mathbb Z_p\) is a parameter, is interpreted as exhibiting subconscious phenomena controlled by the consciousness which specifies the parameter and the initial data. [See also the authors, Memory retrieval as a p-adic dynamical system, BioSystems 49, 105--115 (1999).]