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Welcome to the deep dive. So you sent us your sources, and we’re here to really dig into them, pull out the key ideas for you. Yeah, looking forward to it. Today. We’re tackling something pretty intriguing, a new perspective in cognitive science called Kinematics of brain activities. We’ve got excerpts from a paper and an academic poster abstract you sent over. Our goal, really is to understand the heart of this model, you know, how it challenges maybe, or builds upon how we currently think the brain works, right? The mission, let’s say, is to cut through the jargon and find those potential aha moments, because it seems to look at cognition in a really, fundamentally physical way. Absolutely.
And I think what’s really striking about this material is it’s not just suggesting small tweaks to current theories. No, no. It’s proposing, well, a completely different framework for how the brain creates thought, emotion, yeah, even consciousness itself. It’s trying to fill what they see as a gap, you know, by offering a theory that’s fully physical, grounded in dynamic processes.
Okay, so this isn’t just like another variation on the cognitive science themes. We know the sources are saying this Kinematics of brain activities is distinct from the main paradigms out there. That’s the idea. Yes. Can you maybe paint a quick picture of that landscape? Where does this new model fit? Or maybe where does it pointedly not fit
Sure. So cognitive science, for a long time, has had these major schools of thought. You’ve got the classic symbolic view, the brain is a computer, right? Processing symbols, rules, Jew, F, AI, exactly. Then, connectionism, thinking about neural networks and how properties emerge from them, right? Embodied cognition, which really stresses the role of the body the environment, yeah, that interaction, shaping thought and more recently, predictive coatings become pretty big. This idea, the brain is always predicting and updating, okay? This new kinematic model, well, it offers a really distinct alternative to all of
those. So how does it define cognition? Then, at its core, what’s the non negotiable definition here? The sources
are quite specific. They define cognition as, and I’m quoting loosely here, a physical kinematic phenomenon, okay, arising from phase coordinated strain flows through the viscoelastic architecture of the brain. Wow.
Viscoelastic architecture phase coordinated strain flows. That sounds very different from neurons firing in network diagrams. It is help us picture that. What does it mean thinking of the brain like, like, what and what are they calling this new approach?
Okay, so think of the brain less like wiring and maybe more like a complex gel, something with substance that can deform but also spring back. That’s the viscoelastic idea, right? Like memory foam or something sort of, yeah, yeah. Now imagine energy rippling through this gel, but in coordinated waves, those are the strain flows, and phase coordinated just means these waves are synchronized. They’re working together, locked in step. As for names, they suggest things like kinematic cognitive science or continuity based neuro Kinematics, putting it right alongside things like connectionism, kinematic
cognitive science. Okay, so instead of just action potentials, we’re visualizing these energy waves moving through the actual brain tissue. It’s the core image, yes. What are the fundamental pieces of this model? Then what are the key building blocks we need to grasp? Well, there
are a few key elements First is neural strain flow, basically the continuous, coordinated movement of energy, and it’s both mechanical and electrochemical energy through the brain tissue. Okay, a continuous flow. Then you have strain packages, or they also call them memory units. Now think of these as sort of stable, localized patterns of the strain waves, or patterns of ways, exactly. So instead of memory being like a stored file, it’s a dynamic, repeating pattern of physical energy. It’s a really physically grounded idea of memory, huh?
So recalling something isn’t like pulling up data. It’s more like reactivating a specific physical dance. That’s
a great way to put it, yeah, a dynamic pattern being reestablished. It’s quite a shift.
It really is. What other key concepts make up this framework? Okay? So
we also have string carrier waves. These are described as coordinated oscillations, mainly between the layers of the cortex. Okay? Think of them as a kind of underlying rhythm or scaffold that allows the more complex, higher level thinking to happen, like a background beat, kind of Yeah. And finally, there are balance fields. These are gradients, like slopes of strain across the cortex. And these gradients influence whether certain cognitive pathways, certain thoughts or actions, are more likely to be activated or maybe inhibited,
right like directing the flow of those strain patterns exactly influencing the path of least resistance. Maybe this sounds very integrated, holistic, dynamic, but the sources also say it doesn’t just ignore everything else, right? It tries to connect with existing ideas.
That’s right. It’s not meant to be in a vacuum. It explicitly draws on dynamic systems theory, which already views cognition as continuous. Evolving over time. It definitely resonates with invited cognitions focus on physicality, but it zooms in specifically on the mechanics within the brain tissue. And it also seems to align with the goals of neuro phenomenology, trying to link our subjective experience, what it feels like to be us, with the underlying neural stuff. This model offers potentially a new physical language for that connection.
And what about predictive coding? That’s a big one right now. How does brain Kinematics handle the idea of the brain as a prediction machine?
Yeah, that’s interesting. It doesn’t dismiss it, but it reinterprets it. How so instead of the brain trying to minimize, say, informational surprise or free energy. This model suggests the brain is constantly working to maintain a state of physical strain equilibrium. Ah, okay, a balance of these actual mechanical forces within its structure. So the drive we interpret as prediction is maybe rooted in this physical need for stability.
So it’s reframing familiar ideas in this new physical language. But where does it really break new ground? What are the genuinely novel interpretations it offers for things like memory, emotion, consciousness itself? This feels like where the really exciting stuff might be. I
agree. Let’s take memory again. We talked about strained packages, but the implication is, memory isn’t a static trace that fades. It’s an ongoing recurrent pattern of these phase aligned strain flows.
So forgetting might be what the pattern losing coherence, potentially
or interference from other patterns. It opens up different ways to think about retrieval, modification, distortion of memory and emotion. It’s not just a subjective feeling. It’s proposed as these vertical pulses of strain pulses, yeah, maybe moving up from deeper brain structures. They mentioned the amygdala acting like a strain booster, strain booster. I like that. And the hippocampus acting as a kind of theme organizer, shaping these emotional flows based on our memory patterns. You almost feel the physical tension and release in that description. Yeah,
you really do. It makes emotion feel very
visceral, and consciousness, how does this physical model tackle something so notoriously tricky? Well, it doesn’t treat
it as like an on off switch. Instead, consciousness is framed as a continuum of strain coherence, basically how synchronized and integrated these strain patterns are across different parts of the cortex,
so more coherence, maybe more integrated awareness, that seems
to be the idea they talk about continuity packages these integrated strain patterns that supposedly link our sense of form, motion and our ongoing mental narrative. It’s about the degree of physical integration.
Even dreaming gets an explanation in this kinematic world that often feels so disconnected and random it does.
The hypothesis here is that dreaming acts as a kinetic rebalancing mechanism. Kinetic rebalance Yeah, during sleep, the brain supposedly enters a state with lower friction. Physically speaking, this allows accumulated tensions, these strain patterns built up during waking, to reorganize and settle. So it’s not just noise. It’s potentially a physically necessary process for resetting the brain’s internal physical balance. Wow.
Okay, this is genuinely a different way of thinking about almost everything the brain does. If this model holds water, what are the bigger implications for understanding the mind? Maybe for technology, oh, the implications
could be huge. In AI, for instance, it might inspire completely new kinds of architectures, instead of logic gates or even standard neural nets. You might try to simulate these dynamic flows, these strain dynamics. AI, based on physical waves, could be and in mental health, if you start seeing disorders as say, disruptions in strain coherence, or problems with maintaining that balance field
right, like a pattern getting stuck or becoming chaotic, exactly that
could lead to totally new ways to think about diagnosis, maybe even interventions aimed at restoring that physical equilibrium. Fascinating and even more fundamentally, it offers a new lens for thinking about how brains evolved, how cognitive complexity emerged, maybe through the development of more complex kinematic capacities.
So it fits under the big umbrella of science of cognition, but it’s really pushing the envelope, suggesting these new principles, Kinematics, continuum theory, strain dynamics, are fundamental. Precisely the sources mention the history like the cognitive revolution cognitive neuroscience. How does this model see itself fitting into that story?
Well, it positions itself as a potential next major step. It argues that, you know, previous shifts focused on information then on neural networks, this model says, Hey, we’ve been missing this crucial physical kinematic layer, the actual physics of the brain tissue. Yes, it’s trying to build a more unified picture, one that bridges neuroscience and physics. Maybe connects subjective feeling with physical process. Even links waking thought and dreaming. Okay,
to really help us and you listening, get a firmer grip on this. Can we draw some analogies? Maybe map these new terms? On the concepts we might already know from cognitive science, even if they’re imperfect, matches,
yeah, analogies can be helpful as long as we remember they’re just analogies, right? So
neural strain flow, what’s that kind of like? You could
loosely Think of it like neural activation pathways, the route signals take,
okay, in a strain package or memory unit that has
echoes of a chunk in memory research, or maybe a cognitive schema structured unit of knowledge or memory got it.
What about strain, carrier waves? Those
relate somewhat to the idea of oscillatory synchronization, neurons firing together rhythmically in different areas, and phase wave locking. That sounds like maybe analogous to how the brain solves the binding problem, right? How it integrates input, sight, sound, touch into one coherent experience?
Ah, okay, that makes sense. What about the more dynamic emotional parts? An emotion pulse,
or emotion memory that connects to ideas about affective states, feelings and maybe Damasio, somatic markers, the bodily feelings tied to emotions, right? And the hippocampus as theme lining that sort of maps onto the idea of narrative coherence in memory, how we string experiences together into meaningful sequences or stories. And the amygdala as strain boosters. That’s pretty clearly analogous to its known role in emotional arousal, amplifying the intensity of feelings, makes sense.
And the more abstract concepts, like consciousness, stability, continuity
packages. Well, that’s a novel take on how we maintain a continuous sense of self and experience over time, maybe related to concepts, but more dynamic. Okay, the kinematic loop sounds like an extension of the perception action cycle, that constant loop of sensing the world and acting in it, but framed in these strain dynamics, the strain Balance field feels similar to homeostasis in biology, or that drive for equilibrium we see in predictive coding, just physically grounded, right maintaining stability and dreaming as balance redistribution connects to theories about Sleep being from memory consolidation or emotional processing, basically restoring some kind of balance.
And those fractal motif memory units that
suggests a physical basis for how our concepts and schemas often have this nested hierarchical structure, you know, like fractals, that’s
a really helpful set of connections. So finally, looking at the existing big schools of thought, Where does this kinematic model seem most comfortable, and where is it really charting its own path? Oh, as
the sources point out, it seems to align most strongly with dynamical systems theory, that focus on flow, continuous change. Dynamic states is really central. Okay. It also clearly shares a lot with embodied and inactive cognition, that deep emphasis on the physical basis of mind, right? The physicality. There’s a conceptual link to neuro phenomenology, too. In that ambition to connect subjective experience with the biology, with predictive coding, there’s that thematic overlap around equilibrium, but the mechanism proposed is really different, physical strain, not information, right?
Right? Physics versus information theory almost kind of and it
has some common ground with connectionism, thinking about dynamic interactions in a complex system, but it diverges quite strongly from classical symbolic cognition. There aren’t really symbols or explicit rules in this kinematic picture. Okay,
so wrapping this all up, what’s the absolute core message? If someone remembers one thing from our deep dive into brain Kinematics, what should it be? I think
the central idea is that this model offers a genuinely new and fundamentally physical way to think about how the brain creates the mind. Right? It shifts the focus away from purely computational or informational metaphors towards the actual continuous, dynamic flow of energy, mechanical and electrochemical within the brain’s physical structure. And
this perspective, this kinematic view, could potentially change how we understand everything from memory and emotion to consciousness itself Exactly.
And it might open doors for thinking about mental health, AI, even evolution in new ways.
It really invites us to see the brain, not just as a wet computer, but as this incredibly complex, dynamic, physical system constantly pulsing and flowing to create our reality. That’s
a good way to put it, a continuous dance of energy and strain. So for you listening,
here’s something to think about. How does considering your own thoughts and feelings as physical processes, maybe like tension and release or waves flowing change how you relate to them. What does it mean if your conscious experience arises from what this model calls a kinematic field of dynamic integration, what new questions Does that spark for you about who or maybe what you are? It’s definitely a lot to ponder.