ArticleFrontiers in integrative neuroscience2026
Emergent flow theory: autonomic coherence as a gain parameter for the temporal architecture of conscious integration.
Article in Frontiers in integrative neuroscience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Contemporary neuroscientific theories of consciousness-including Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNW), Integrated Information Theory (IIT), and the Predictive Processing/Free Energy Principle (PP/FEP)-have not formalized autonomic and neuromodulatory state as explicit dynamic control parameters within models of conscious integration. This gap constitutes the explanatory niche addressed by the Emergent Flow Theory (EFT). EFT proposes that consciousness-supporting cortical integration is organized across three nested temporal regimes: ΔTᵢ (autonomic-interoceptive, ~50-200 ms), ΔTₚ (conscious access, ~200-500 ms), and ΔTᶠ (phenomenological-narrative, ~500 ms-3 s)-understood as functional approximations of dominant processing epochs rather than discrete neural compartments. The core theoretical claim is that autonomic coherence (γ), operationally indexed by heart rate variability (HRV), functions as a system-level gain parameter modulating the probability and quality of transitions between these regimes. This relationship is formalized in a phenomenological dynamic equation for a latent integrated-complexity state Q, constrained observationally by measures such as the Perturbational Complexity Index (PCI): dQ/dt = κ·γ·Σ(n,k) [αnk · g(ΔTnk)] - βQ + ξ(t) [
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