Analog Cognition and Consciousness

Cognition and consciousness may arise from bidirectional interactions between neuron spiking and large-scale brain waves. We propose that, while synapses store memories, brain waves provide an executive-like control process that organizes millions of neurons into lower-dimensional, coordinated patterns in real time. These waves can implement analog computation, generating new patterns of neural excitation according to underlying computational principles. Their top-down influences can flexibly route and organize neural signals, allowing multifunctional neurons to assume different roles depending on context. This flexibility is the sine qua non of cognition. Goal-directed thought, action, and unified consciousness may thus emerge from organized, cortex-wide wave patterns that both reflect and transform the information expressed by spiking, thereby shaping it into organized brain states.