Nicholas P. Timms
Submitted: April 2026 : Publish: 10th April 2026
Abstract
The decoupling of neural reactivation from conscious access during episodic memory retrieval reveals a profound explanatory gap in contemporary cognitive neuroscience. While stimulus-specific cortical representations can be robustly reinstated following a cue, empirical evidence demonstrates that this reactivation does not inherently guarantee overt recall or subjective awareness. To resolve this paradox, this paper introduces a unified theoretical framework that reconceptualizes memory retrieval as a sequential data decompression event executing across a biological analogue gravity metric. Drawing structural isomorphisms from computer science, we model the hippocampus as a centralized archival directory that dispatches sparse index pointers to latent cortical engrams. We posit that global alpha-band desynchronization acts as a biological memory allocator, clearing the neuro-electromagnetic buffer, while stimulus-specific rhythmic alpha oscillations emulate a sliding-window decompression algorithm to actively unpack the sensory payload. Crucially, the neocortical medium is modeled as an effective spacetime metric that is continuously tuned by the bidirectional autonomic signaling of the Gut-Brain Axis. Within this topology, conscious awareness is not a static property of neural firing, but rather a dynamic gravitational threshold. For a decompressed memory trace to reach the global conscious workspace, its rhythmic reactivation must generate sufficient local wave speed to escape the brain’s baseline analogue event horizon. Consequently, retrieval failure is redefined as a localized projection failure, wherein perfectly preserved memory traces remain holographically trapped behind a sub-conscious boundary. This interdisciplinary synthesis fundamentally reframes episodic recall as an active, thermodynamic extraction process governed simultaneously by algorithmic entropy and relativistic kinematics.
