Beyond neurons and spikes: cognon, the hierarchical dynamical unit of thought

Abstract

From the dynamical point of view, most cognitive phenomena are hierarchical, transient and sequential. Such cognitive spatio-temporal processes can be represented by a set of sequential metastable dynamical states together with their associated transitions: The state is quasi-stationary close to one metastable state before a rapid transition to another state. Hence, we postulate that metastable states are the central players in cognitive information processing. Based on the analogy of quasiparticles as elementary units in physics, we introduce here the quantum of cognitive information dynamics, which we term “cognon”. A cognon, or dynamical unit of thought, is represented by a robust finite chain of metastable neural states. Cognons can be organized at multiple hierarchical levels and coordinate complex cognitive information representations. Since a cognon is an abstract conceptualization, we link this abstraction to brain sequential dynamics that can be measured using common modalities and argue that cognons and brain rhythms form binding spatiotemporal complexes to keep simultaneous dynamical information which relate the ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’.

Landau model for illustrating the learning and unlearning process of nociplastic pain

“…In the case of magnetization, at the critical transition, all the magnetic moments cooperatively align in either upward or downward magnetization and the magnetic susceptibility diverges. Extensions of the concept of criticality are widely used to describe life systems ( 67 – 69 ) and neural activity ( 70 – 72 ), where, for example, extensions of the Landau theory have been used to model cortex dynamics ( 73 , 74 ). Psychodynamic processes have also a long tradition in dynamical systems ( 75 – 77 ), where, for instance, we can find that the Landau theory was used to model subjective experiences ( 78 ).…”