The Cerebellum according to the Ouroboros Model, the “Interpolator Hypothesis”

The Ouroboros Model offers a novel cognitive architecture with an algorithmic backbone of iterative and self-referential processing. All memory content is organized into meaningful pieces of data, i.e.,chunks and schemata, which are laid down as a kind of snapshots of all activations at a relevant point in time. This entails a grainy structure of memory content. Whereas a core process of “consumption” analysis can naturally be defined taking advantage of this parcellation, it necessitates interpolation for fine nuances, especially for the representation of intermediate values during transients. It is argued that, in the vertebrate brain, essential interpolation functionality is provided by the cerebellum. Findings concerning movement control and perception as well as the involvement of the cerebellum in more abstract, cognitive, tasks can be interpreted as reflecting a function of the cerebellum as a co-processor, i.e., a general-purpose interpolator. The cerebellum is thus boosting representations in cerebral cortex areas, which are reciprocally connected with cerebellar cortex areas. In this paper, it is sketched how the new “interpolator hypothesis” can explain manifold observations, effectively subsuming previous theories of the function of the cerebellum. Directly relating to the BICA challenge, a general-purpose interpolator is postulated as an efficient device providing fine-grained resolution for the representation of diverse content, potentially useful in any cognitive architecture.