About Hopfield Basin

Shape synaptic weights to carve attractor valleys in this free online neural network game about associative memory and Hebbian learning.

Hopfield Basin is a free online neural network game where you sculpt energy landscapes, roll noisy input vectors downhill into attractor valleys and shake off spurious traps with thermal annealing. This machine learning game makes the physics behind associative memory playable.

A Hopfield network stores memories as stable valleys in an energy landscape. Hebbian learning strengthens connections between neurons that fire together, carving basins that partial or corrupted patterns naturally roll into. Show the network a fragment and dynamics pull it to the nearest stored memory, the same trick your brain uses to recognize a song from three notes.

The spurious traps you escape are real failure modes. Networks can get stuck in fake minima that match no stored pattern and thermal annealing, adding controlled noise then cooling, lets them bounce free. This energy-based view of computation earned John Hopfield a share of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics and underpins modern machine learning.

Key Science Concepts

• Energy landscapes and attractor states
• Hebbian synaptic learning
• Associative memory retrieval
• Spurious minima and local traps
• Simulated thermal annealing
• Content-addressable memory

What You'll Learn

• Explain how networks store patterns as energy minima
• Describe Hebbian learning in plain terms
• Reason about noisy retrieval and error correction
• Connect energy-based models to modern AI

Grade Level: College

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How to play

1. Sculpt Hebbian Terrain Click landscape or tap Hebbian Tilt to deepen target valleys and lower ridges.
2. Roll State Vector Drag or nudge marble downhill. As energy drops, corrupted bits reconstruct.
3. Thermal Anneal Trapped in a spurious ditch? Trigger Thermal Shake to hop into the global minimum.

Frequently asked questions

Is Hopfield Basin free to play?

Yes. Hopfield Basin is completely free to play in your browser. There is no download, install or account needed.

What grade level is Hopfield Basin for?

Hopfield Basin is designed for College students and works well as a classroom activity or homework.

Does Hopfield Basin work on phones and tablets?

Yes. Hopfield Basin runs in any modern browser on desktop computers, Chromebooks, tablets and phones in landscape mode.

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