I don’t think that is a given. I do think that the data stream is just that - a stream. The processing is guided with feedback from the higher levels acting as a filter but it is still a stream. I see the WHAT and WHERE streams as just that - streams that flow up the hierarchy to the association region(s).
There can be more stable representations as you ascend the hierarchy; this representation can be the stabilizing feedback. I like to think of the stream as “bunching up” as it ascends the hierarchy. I suppose that you could think of this as some sort of ensemble but I think that misses the essential peristaltic streaming nature of the processing.
The high level representations are the basic data interchange between the hubs.
What I like about this basic approach is I can see how it forms and develops from a “empty” structure to a fully trained one. I find the method outline in the " Deep Predictive Learning" particularly appealing in this regard. This development and self-organization is missing in many of the models I have looked at.