Parallel micro-eddies — many ionic assemblies, at once

A thought begins as many parallel ionic eddies igniting in gamma, winner-take-most, with gamma setting ignitability [model]. The mediator is a local ionic gamma-assembly — spikes and synaptic currents — not a physical field. Absolute size and any link to consciousness remain open.

A thought is not one process but many, in parallel. Each “eddy” is a local ionic assembly that ignites in the γ band — carried by spikes and synaptic currents, not by a field — and many are laid down at once. The competition is winner-take-MOST, not winner-take-all: several remain partly active and available. γ sets ignitability: which assembly can ignite, and how readily. The absolute size of an eddy, and whether any eddy is conscious, are open — the chapter specifies the mechanism, not the magnitude or the felt status.

Many, in parallel

At any moment the cortex is not running one thought but a field of candidates. Many local assemblies are partly active together — the parallel “eddies”. Thought is the resolution of this parallel field over time, not the playback of a single line.

The eddy is an ionic γ-assembly

An eddy is named, not mystical: a local assembly of neurons whose recurrent ionic activity ignites in the γ band. Its carrier is the spike and the synaptic current within and between those neurons (§2); its “extent” is the set of co-igniting cells, not a region of field. Calling it an eddy is shorthand for a transient, self-reinforcing γ-assembly on real connections.

Winner-take-most

The competition among eddies is winner-take-MOST, not winner-take-all. One assembly dominates, but several others remain partly active rather than being fully suppressed — which is why thought has a margin (alternatives, near-misses, the thing on the tip of the tongue) and why the next selection (§4) has live candidates to choose among.

γ sets ignitability

What decides which assembly can ignite is γ: the γ-band drive sets the ignitability of an assembly — how close it is to catching. This is the one part of the eddy story with the firmest footing (γ→ignitability is admissible from the neuro substrate); the assembly that is most ignitable is the one most likely to be carried forward.

Open

Two things are explicitly open. The absolute size of an eddy — how many cells, how wide — is not fixed here. And whether any eddy, or any winner-take-most configuration, is conscious is open: the chapter specifies a mechanism for parallel candidate thoughts, not a criterion for which of them is felt (§9).