The brain is not a static machine.
Start with the general process described in this post:
This describes a continuous process that senses, processes, plans, and acts; what happens in the sensed stream closes this loop. The interaction between the feed-forward and feedback paths enhance maps to strongly activate certain ones as anchors to the streams of information. Some of these contents are perception, some are need states or unfolding plans. As hinted at with the last picture - there are multiple loops combining the sensing to the planning stages, and feedback from the execution units to cancel self-motion and filter the senses - see the cocktail effect in hearing for an example.
In these general paths, there are “side chains” of connections that are formed dynamically to shape and engage maps as this signal path is used. Please reflect on this diagram from Dehaene as a meditation focus.
I said this before but it bears repeating: this all happens in a continuous stream and could be considered as a purely parallel process.
In my mind, I think of these links as snapping from node to nodes like the sparks in a lightning ball, being guided by the contents of the maps and the degree of matching in the maps in the path. I sometimes think of animating the Dehaene maps to look something like this …
Thalamus to sensory cotex projections:
Map to map dynamic fiber track connections:
