Described is system and method for cognitive recognition. The system receives a multi-dimensional scene array as input data. A foveation module divides the multi-dimensional scene array into a plurality of sub-arrays and outputs contents of a currently selected sub-array. The contents are clustered with a hierarchical clustering module to generate a spatially invariant hierarchical cluster of the contents comprising a plurality of components which are based on a statistical distribution of co-occurrence of features across the currently selected sub-array. Task-relevant components are selectively gated and robustly maintained into a component memory location of a pattern bank with a working memory module with an input gating module. If the task-relevant components activate an abstract category module based on pattern matching, then a category recognition label is generated for the contents of the currently selected sub-array with an executive control module.
Hierarchical clustering method and apparatus for a cognitive recognition system based on a combination of temporal and prefrontal cortex models