Fig. (3).

Isomorphism between functional structures of electrical brain field (EEG), cognition, and phenomenological consciousness (reflective thought). A: At the EEG level dynamic structure is presented as a chain of periods of short-term metastable states (or operational modules, OM) of the individual brain subsystems (grey shapes), when the numbers of degrees of freedom of the neuronal assemblies are maximally decreased. Red out-lined shapes (in the on-line version) illustrate complex OMs which are separated by the rapid transition periods (RTPs). B: Changes from one cognitive act to another are achieved through RTPs. Change from one cognitive (and behavioral) act to another is reflected in transitional processes which play the principal role in the organization of cognition. During transitional process the comparison with the parameters of the final result reveals the correspondence between the achieved ‘goal’ and the ‘goal’ that was planned [129]. C: Phenomenological level illustrates the ever-changing stream of thoughts (or mental images) where each momentarily stable pattern is separated by transitive fringes (or RTPs). Consciousness is always changing, but it presents us with a series of substantive thoughts that are themselves momentarily stable [130]. Generally, the description of the cognitive and phenomenological continuum as a chain of the discrete acts (the results of which are achieved due to the simultaneous realization of certain number of operations) coincides with the description of the operational architectonics of the biopotential brain field.