Moment Making Is Quantum-Like: The Cingulate May Be Where It Happens
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper proposes that the formation of a conscious moment is quantum-like in its organisation without being quantum mechanical in its substrate: phase-bearing candidate representations evolve together, interfere before any outcome exists, and are converted by a closure operation into one discrete moment of experience. The argument runs at two levels. At the process level, a Recursion–Dwell–Closure framework is formalised with a two-index candidate set that separates mutually exclusive alternatives within a content stream from constituents that must coexist across streams, yielding distinct within-stream and non-participating residuals and a chance-corrected measure of cross-stream coherence. Closure is specified as streamwise selection conditionally independent given a collective phase, which preserves relational interference without enumerating joint configurations. At the implementation level, anterior midcingulate cortex is examined as a candidate site, drawing on its agranular architecture, apical coincidence detection, the compartmental targeting of parvalbumin, somatostatin and VIP interneurons, and mediodorsal thalamic input. The account departs from the quantum template where unselected activity must persist as a latent bias across moment boundaries, and it generates laminar, cell-type, dendritic and thalamic predictions that would falsify it.
Author: Reynolds, Chris
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7212454029
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