A computational model called the Thoughtseeds Framework simulates thought dynamics during focused-attention Vipassana meditation. It treats thoughts as dynamic attentional agents organized in a hierarchy of nested Markov blankets across three levels: knowledge domains, a network where thoughtseeds compete, and meta-cognition that regulates awareness. The model generates four states—breath control, mind wandering, meta-awareness, and redirecting to breath—through self-organizing interactions. Expert meditators sustain control dominance, reinforcing focused attention, while novices show frequent and prolonged mind wandering, reflecting instability. The framework integrates Global Workspace Theory and active inference to explain how meta-awareness shapes a unitary meditative experience, offering testable predictions about meditation skill development.
Cognition emerges from the dynamic interaction of self-organizing units of embodied knowledge called thoughtseeds within a Global Workspace of consciousness. This framework integrates evolutionary theory, neuronal packets, and the free energy principle into a hierarchical model of cognitive states comprising Neuronal Packet Domains, Knowledge Domains, the thoughtseed network, and meta-cognition. Nested Markov blankets and reciprocal message passing mediate this hierarchy, allowing thoughtseeds—fundamental units of thought—to compete for dominance, with the winning thoughtseed shaping conscious experience and guiding behavior. A mathematical framework grounded in active inference and dynamical systems theory models thoughtseed dynamics and their contribution to the unitary nature of consciousness.