1. A computer system comprising: a first lower level processing unit configured to receive a first portion of an input data and generating a first output representing information about temporal sequences of spatial patterns in the first portion of the input data corresponding to first learned temporal sequences of spatial patterns; a second lower level processing unit configured to receive a second portion of the input data and generating a second output representing information about temporal sequences of spatial patterns in the second portion of the input data corresponding to second learned temporal sequences of spatial patterns; and an upper level processing unit associated with the first and second lower level processing units, the upper level processing unit configured to generate a third output based on the first and the second outputs, the third output representing information about causes to the input data.