华东理工大学the self-organizing maps background, theories, extensions and applications.pdfVIP

The Self-Organizing Maps: Background, Theories, Extensions and Applications Hujun Yin School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Manchester, M60 1QD, UK, hujun.yin@manchester.ac.uk 1 Introduction For many years, artificial neural networks (ANNs) h e been studied and used to model information processing systems based on or inspired by bio- logical neural structures. They not only can provide solutions with improved performance when compared with traditional problem-solving methods, but also give a deeper understanding of human cognitive abilities. Among various existing neural network architectures and learning algorithms, Kohonen’s self- organizing map (SOM) [46] is one of the most popular neural network models. Developed for an associative memory model, it is an unsupervised learning algorithm with a simple structure and computational form, and is motivated by the retina-cortex mapping. Self-organization in general is a fundamental pattern recognition process, in which intrinsic inter- and intra-pattern rela- tionships among the stimuli and responses are learnt without the presence of a potentially biased or subjective external influence. The SOM can pro- vide topologically p mapping from input to output spaces. Although the computational form of the SOM is very simple, numerous researchers h e already examined the algorithm and many of its problems, nevertheless research in this area goes deeper and deeper – there are still many aspects to be exploited. In this Chapter, we review the background, theories and statistical proper- ties of this important learning model and present recent advances from various pattern recognition aspects through a number of case studies and applications. The SOM is optimal for vector quantization. Its topographical ordering pro- vides the mapping with enhanced fault- an