Memory retrieval as a p-adic dynamical system

We propose a mathematical model of the memory retrieval process based on dynamical systems over a metric space of p-adic numbers representing a configuration 'space of ideas' in which two ideas are close if they have a sufficiently long common root. Our aim is to suggest a new way of conceptualizing human memory retrieval that might be useful for simulation purposes or for the construction of artificial intelligence devices, as well as for a deeper understanding of the process itself. The dynamical system is assumed to be located in a blackbox processing unit (the 'subconscious') and controlled by an interface control unit (the 'conscious') that fixes parameters in the dynamical system and starts its iteration by sending an initial generating idea to it. We show that even simple p-adic dynamical systems admit behavioral scenarios that could explain some of the essential features of the human memory retrieval process. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.