This essay proposes a new model of the human mind and its connection to the brain, called the MA (Memory Activation) Mind/brain Model. It describes the mind’s core “parts” (cognitive ontology) and their active-state neural correlates through space and time in the brain. Based on a fresh understanding of what the mind is and how it links to neural activity, the model offers a (in some ways radically) new cognitive neuroscience framework.
1. The mind exists. Mental states and processes are real — as subjective phenomena. Every waking moment we sense and perceive (sight, sound, somatosensation, pain/pleasure, temperature, hunger, fatigue…), recognize, identify, create meaning, experience thought, think (compare, analyze, evaluate…), feel and regulate emotion and motivation, imagine, and believe. The conscious and unconscious mind also encompasses executive control, the self, goals, attention, prediction, language, and learning. It includes any aspect of human experience, knowledge, or capability — an arguably infinite range of subjective information.
2. It’s inside the brain. The brain’s primary purpose is to enable the mind. In motor control, for example, the basal ganglia and motor cortex integrate inputs from sensory systems and premotor areas. The resulting efferent signal drives movement. While the signal itself is physical, the mind strongly shapes it through perception, understanding of the task, goals, attention, intention, beliefs, meaning, executive functions, prediction, emotion, and motivation. Our entire state of mind influences movement, including body language and facial expressions. This is the mind operating inside the brain.
3. The mind has a neural correlate. Since the brain is physical, the mind within it must have a physical form. The mind demonstrably influences the brain through a strong, reliable connection. I argue that the mind’s neural correlate is the brain’s dominant electrochemical activity: coordinated neural ensemble firing and synchronous oscillation — i.e., functional neural networks (FNNs).
4. The mind and its neural correlate are the same phenomenon. Dual-aspect monism offers a compelling solution. Mind and brain are two views of the same underlying phenomenon. The mind is 100% subjective and 100% physical at once. The first-person view is subjective experience; the third-person view is its neural (FNN) correlate. Active components of mind correspond to sets of FNNs.
5. Because the mind has a neural correlate, it can be used to map (encode) to the brain and vice-versa (decode). A valid model of brain activity through time requires a parts list of the mind. Once mental states and processes (cognitive ontology) are defined for a given context, they can be connected to neural activity. Without this parts list, accurate encoding and decoding is impossible.
6. The mind CAN be defined — with accuracy and precision. Any mental component or combination active during a task can be clearly defined, weighted, and connected into a mind network. Its changes through space and time can also be mapped. This turns the mind into a practical roadmap for labeling neural activity. For instance, the intention “move the cursor to the right” activates components such as perception of one’s hand on the mouse, imagination of the movement, and immediate intention — plus associated prediction, emotion, goals and attention. Mind maps enable precise FNN maps.
7. The mind is (mostly) ignored. Despite its central role, the need for a cognitive ontology in encoding & decoding is largely overlooked. This stems partly from limited understanding of the mind itself. While brain scientists possess deep technical expertise, conceptual understanding of consciousness and the mind remains in its infancy. Definitions are vague, and detailed descriptions of mental states during tasks are rare.
8. A flawed conceptual framework hinders progress. The current cognitive neuroscience framework is incomplete, particularly in how it treats subjective experience. Consciousness is often minimized or reduced to neural processes, causing the contents of mind to largely disappear. Memory content is similarly undervalued, even though subjective memory contents dominate recognition, meaning, prediction, and everyday function.
9. The main function of the brain, especially during routine tasks, is to activate memory. In the simple act of taking a sip of coffee while reading, the mind draws on memories for recognition, meaning, thought, goals, emotion, motivation, intention, and prediction. Each component reflects memories built from similar past events. Everyday tasks are accomplished through the activation of sets of memories.
10. The mind = (mostly) a set of general memories built from past experience. Recognition, identification, meaning, understanding, knowledge, goals, beliefs, intentions, and even emotional feelings can be seen as (active state) general memories. They have subjective or experiential content: perceptual, intellectual, and emotional. The content is the same as that of prior experience. For example, reading the words “take a sip of cold water while thirsty” (or the act itself) activates memories like “water, glass, hand, lips, thirst, desire, dehydration” and so on.
11. A general memory represents a range of similar experiences. Like the general concept of “coffee,” built from many episodic experiences, general memories capture ranges of perceptual, semantic, and emotional content rather than single events.
12. The contents of a person’s (conscious & unconscious) mind are converted to memory. This includes sensation and perception, recognition, meaning, thought, thinking, state of arousal, motivation, goals, the self, executive functions, attention, intention and motor control. All of this (and more) is converted to memory, continuously and automatically. This allows a person to describe what their lived experience was for the last 10 seconds, or what they were doing 5 minutes ago.
The most salient & attended to components of mind are converted to episodic memory (hippocampus), where they activate (and shape) matching general memory.
13. Sets of general memories, when active, work to create the mind. To have any meaning, the act “bite into an apple” involves the memory of “I/me,” “bite,” “into,” and “apple.” Other memories might include “hunger,” “feeling desire to eat,” and “nutrition.” Absent these memories, you are left with immediate yet meaningless (low-level) sensation and perception.
14. If mind = mostly general memories, built from past experiential content, this means the brain runs (mostly) on the information of experience. This seems to runs counter to what is known about the brain. Isn’t the activation of a memory manifest or computed via neural activity? Doesn’t it involve the activity of (networks of) neurons, dendrites, synapses, neurochemicals etc.? I argue that’s true from a third person perspective. But a first person view of memory is present simultaneously — the subjective information of that memory’s expression.
15. The main “processing” mechanism of the brain is memory activation. The brain’s hardware (structural neural networks & supporting biology) and software (its activity) is very different from that of a computer. It’s an electrochemical organ, the wetware of which is based on (interconnected) biology and physics.
Though the brain is a physical organ, it supports and mirrors the activity of the mind. And if mind is mostly memory, this means the brain works to process — activate, shape, and store — (multiple) memories every moment of the day.
16. The ongoing neural oscillation patterns of the brain interact with both themselves and the sensory signal. This simultaneous interaction sustains a coordinated, partly-connected & partly independent (metastable) set of general memory activation. In other words a set of FNNs. This (active memory/FNN) set can be connected into a network, and its components weighted and labeled excitatory/inhibitory.
17. The mind is only partly mechanical. If subjective experience and the mind is represented in the brain, then isn’t it a physical entity? Aren’t (conscious & unconscious) mental states and processes mechanical phenomena? Isn’t a person a physical machine that — with the right set of algorithms — is 100% predictable?
I would argue no. Human beings are much more than the sum of their physics and biology. Higher aspects of mind – intuition, inspiration, passion, creativity etc. – can play a large role in mind, consciousness and behavior. These higher states are unpredictable and somewhat mysterious. The higher self is not 100% comprehensible. People can act in ways that are not easily understood, far from having a known “mechanism.”
It’s true many human behaviors are based on conditioning and habit. Yet the higher mind — truth, insight, compassion, forgiveness, spontaneity, humor, courage, genius, humility, spiritual and religious experience etc. — can strongly interject into the mind. At any time it can express itself during daily living. The higher mind is connected to the brain in a non-predictable way.
18. Once general memory is understood subjectively, its neural correlate is obvious: a functional neural network (FNN) range. A FNN is a (local or global) population-level neural firing event. Groups of neurons (neural ensembles) in distributed regions of the brain act in concert and coordination, via neural synchrony, to produce population-level firing (a FNN). A group of similar FNNs (ex: a set of “that apple” experiences) expressed over time represents a FNN range (“an apple” memory).
Both general memories and FNNs are strongly associative. Each functions as a transmitter of its own signal, and receiver of associated signals, simultaneously. And each is the dominant force in its respective (mind/brain) systems.
19. In summary: active mind = (largely) a set of active general memories, based on past experience = a corresponding set of FNN range activity.
The MA Model offers not only a new cognitive neuroscience paradigm, but a practical tool for significantly more accurate brain encoding and decoding. By grounding the mind in everyday experience and memory, it reveals a richer, more complete picture of both mind and brain.
