[topicmapmail] Do our brains work like Topic Maps ?

[Gabriel Hopmans]

Hi,
See this news below. I would say that the researchers can start working on answering this question (see subject field) as well.
But then maybe also refine the question : the number of statements that are linked to words. (instead of the number of sites)

Gabriel


 ====================== 
 Do our brains work like Google? 
 ====================== 
 Google's patented and powerful search algorithm, PageRank, may mimic the 
 way the human brain retrieves information.  
  
 Our memory for words can be modelled as a network in which each point 
 represents a different word, with each linked to words that relate to 
 it. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, wondered 
 whether the ease with which the brain retrieves words is similar to the 
 way that websites are ranked by PageRank: by the number of sites that 
 link to them.  
  
 It seems it might. In tests against other word-retrieval algorithms, 
 PageRank most clearly matched the human model. The results suggest human 
 memory studies could be improved by examining the tricks that search 
 engines employ, and vice versa, the researchers say.  

 New Scientist / Psychological Science - December 10, 2007 
 http://www.merit.unu.edu/i&tweekly/ref.php?nid=3195