We present some experimental results obtained with an all-optical implementation of a self-organizing map. The system is based on two ferroelectric liquid-crystal, bistable optically addressed spatial light modulators 1BOASLM's2 used as parallel read@write optical memories and as thresholding devices. Modifications made to adapt the basic algorithm to the BOASLM's are studied in computer simulations that predict training-class loss due to the simplified decision stage as the principal drawback. Experimental results show good system behavior in recognition mode, demonstrating generalization properties and confirming the choice of a BOASLM memory. All-optical learning is shown in simple cases, and the elementary BOASLM decision function is confirmed as the major limiting factor. The ultimate possible system performance is discussed, and ways of overcoming present limits are suggested.