Whereas associative memories have usually been based on the syntax of the contents of cells in the memory (such as on specific bit configurations), a model is proposed in which the associations between entries in the cells are characterized independently of their contents. For example, the entries “three,” “five,” and “multiplication” can be construed as being associated jointly with the entry “fifteen.” This association by semantic content is invariant under the transformation to the respective equivalents “3,” “5,” “x,” and “15.”