et al., 1997).3 An implicit goal of such a strategy is to eventually explain how elementary attributes that are believed to comprise an object (e.g., color, shape, odor, sound, motion, etc) are bound together at the neuronal level so that the object is identified as an entity with segregated boundaries from its background (von der Malsburg, 1994). However, a paradox inherent in this strategy is that the ‘essential attributes’ necessary for the identification of an object, thing or idea are not universal properties of the external world but are created by the observing brain (Llinás, 2001; Buzsáki, 2006). Therefore, a fundamental question is how the cell assembly concept helps us to track down brain mechanisms of classification and categorization, exemplified by the often used antonym terms such as integration vs. segregation, differentiation vs. generalization, pattern separation vs. pattern completion or parsing vs. grouping (Edelman, 1987; Tononi et al., 1994).
