From rest to task: temporal mechanisms of self-association

Abstract Our self is characterized by both ongoing, long-lasting intrinsic self-representation in spontaneous brain activity and short-term, transient self-association with extrinsic stimuli during task-related activity. However, how these two dimensions of the self are related remains unclear. How do they interact when extrinsic stimuli become associated with one's self-representation? Addressing this gap in our knowledge is the goal of our paper. We propose three temporal mechanisms that may connect spontaneous and task-related activity during sequential self-processing stages: (i) temporal matching of spontaneous activity's intrinsic self-representation with extrinsic stimuli through the brain's scale-free dynamics; (ii) temporal integration of the shorter extrinsic stimulus duration within the longer temporal windows of the spontaneous, intrinsic self-representation using the brain's intrinsic neural timescales; and (iii) temporal differentiation by which the self-specificity of extrinsic stimuli is distinguished from intrinsic self-representation via transient suppression and compression of ongoing spontaneous activity. Together, these three temporal mechanisms may shed light on the nature of self–stimulus associations by explicating the interaction between intrinsic self-representation and task-related extrinsic stimulus processing. This novel temporal framework extends current theories by proposing a hierarchical temporal model of self embedded within a dynamic layer model of the brain. This framework may have major implications for an artificial self in current artificial intelligence technologies. This article is part of the discussion meeting issue ‘From being to identity: analysis and synthesis of the self’.