Dynamic Protention: The Architecture of Real-Time Cognition for Future Events

For over 30 years now, a body of physiological evidence has been acquired which indicates that cognitive operations coordinate via the phase synchronization of neuronal firing. While usually ascribed to “binding,” i.e., the putting together of basic perceptual features to form more complex perceptual units, this ascription is not without critics, who identify phase synchronization as a function of sensorimotor coordination. From the perspective of an experimental paradigm used to measure the effects of stimulus synchronization, we discuss what is “bound” and attempt a reconciliation between perceptual and sensorimotor accounts of oscillatory synchronization. Our evidence identifies a role for synchronization in protentive coding, this is to say, coding in anticipation of a future event, and hence describes the architecture of real-time cognition for future events.