Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 91, Nos. 1/2, 1998, p. 125-153.
Using a probabilistic approach, the parallel dynamics of fully connected (Q-Ising neural networks is studied for arbitrary Q. A novel recursive scheme is set up to determine the time evolution of the order parameters through the evolution of the distribution of the local field, taking into account all feedback correlations. In contrast to extremely diluted and layered network architectures, the local field is no longer normally distributed but contains a discrete part. As an illustrative example, an explicit analysis is carried out for the first four time steps. For the case of the Q = 2 and Q = 3 model the results are compared with extensive numerical simulations and excellent agreement is found. Finally, equilibrium fixed-point equations are derived and compared with the thertno-dynamic approach based upon the replica-symmetric mean-field approximation.