The Cortex as a Feedback Loop of Consciousness: What Identical Twins Reveal About Behavioural Reality
BY: OMOLAJA MAKINEE
Modern Behavioural science inherited a foundational assumption, that consciousness authors behaviour.
Under this model:
- the cortex thinks,
- the self decides,
- awareness initiates action,
- and behaviour emerges through conscious intention.
Psychextrics rejects this entirely.
Under the 6-Cephalon architecture, the cortex is not the builder of behavioural reality, but the reflective screen of behavioural reality.
The Telencephalon does not originate behavioural events. It mirrors behavioural events already assembled beneath awareness through vertically integrated cephalic systems.
This is precisely why consciousness must be understood as:
- reflective,
- evidential,
- symbolic,
- and observational
rather than:
- executive,
- sovereign,
- or initiatory.
The cortex functions as a feedback loop of consciousness.
Its role is to reveal to the organism the behavioural calculations already completed beneath awareness by the lower cephalic architecture.
The:
- Myelencephalon,
- Metencephalon,
- Mesencephalon,
- Diencephalon,
- and Siencephalon
continuously:
- process environmental stimuli,
- calculate saliency,
- stabilise orientation,
- weight emotional value,
- index behavioural familiarity,
- and integrate memory signals
before the cortex consciously displays the outcome.
Consciousness therefore becomes the mirror of behavioural integration. This architecture becomes extraordinarily visible when examining identical twins.
1. The Identical Twin Problem
Identical twins expose one of the deepest weaknesses in classical psychological thinking.
Because identical twins share nearly identical:
- genetic inheritance,
- biological architecture,
- developmental blueprints,
- and baseline hormonal structures,
traditional models often assume that consciousness itself should behave similarly between them.
Yet identical twins frequently:
- disagree intensely,
- form opposing moral conclusions,
- develop different behavioural responses,
- and interpret identical situations differently.
Traditional Psychology explains this vaguely through:
- personality,
- subjective individuality,
- personal experience,
- or free conscious interpretation.
Psychextrics provides a structural explanation.
The divergence does not originate from a sovereign conscious self, nor independent conscious authorship. The divergence originates beneath awareness through:
- cephalic timing,
- saliency weighting,
- environmental indexing,
- hormonal state,
- and Siencephalic signal integration.
2. The Café Collision Scenario
Imagine identical twins sitting together at an outdoor café observing a cyclist collide with a pedestrian.
At first glance, both twins appear to experience:
- the same event,
- the same environment,
- the same visual information,
- and the same sensory reality.
But psychextrically, identical sensory exposure does not guarantee identical cephalic processing. The divergence begins immediately beneath awareness.
One twin’s:
- Mesencephalic orientation systems capture a subtle behavioural cue the pedestrian briefly looking down at a phone before stepping forward.
At the same moment, the second twin’s attentional saliency systems shift instead toward:
- the sound of braking tires,
- the cyclist’s speed,
- and nearby emotional reactions blaming the cyclist.
The external world remains unchanged. The intake weighting changes. This distinction is critical.
Because the lower cephalic gateways do not merely collect information. They prioritise, filter, weight, and route behavioural saliency before conscious reflection emerges.
3. The Siencephalon Compiles Behavioural Reality
Once these subtle divergences enter the cephalic system, the:
- Siencephalon,
- Entorhinal relay,
- Amygdalar weighting systems,
- and behavioural indexing structures
begin assembling the behavioural package.
The first twin’s Siencephalon may:
- value-tag pedestrian negligence,
- index distraction,
- and package the event as preventable carelessness.
The second twin’s Siencephalon may:
- value-tag cyclist aggression,
- prioritise danger,
- and package the event as reckless behaviour.
The behavioural divergence is now structurally complete before consciousness even becomes aware of the interpretation. Only afterward are these compiled behavioural packages projected upward onto the Telencephalic display-cortex.
The cortex then renders the final behavioural simulation as:
- conscious opinion,
- emotional reaction,
- reflective narration,
- and symbolic interpretation.
Both twins subsequently believe:
- “I consciously formed this opinion.”
- “I rationally interpreted this situation.”
- “I independently reached this conclusion.”
Under psychextrics, neither consciously authored the interpretation. Each cortex merely inherited and displayed the behavioural package already assembled beneath awareness.
4. Consciousness as Reflection Rather Than Authorship
This is the profound implication of the cortex as a feedback loop.
Consciousness does not construct behavioural reality in real time. It reflects behavioural reality after cephalic integration has already occurred.
The Telencephalon therefore behaves less like:
- a commander,
and more like:
- a mirror.
The organism consciously witnesses the behavioural output already assembled through:
- saliency weighting,
- memory indexing,
- hormonal timing,
- contextual prioritisation,
- and cephalic integration.
The conscious self then mistakes reflective inheritance for behavioural authorship. This creates the executive illusion.
Because the behavioural package appears consciously as:
- thought,
- reasoning,
- moral interpretation,
- and personal belief,
the organism assumes the cortex consciously generated the conclusion. But the cortex is only displaying the completed signal.
5. Behavioural Hormonal Timing and Divergent Reality
The twin scenario also exposes the importance of behavioural hormonal timing.
Even slight differences in:
- stress chemistry,
- attentional state,
- metabolic condition,
- environmental familiarity,
- and emotional priming
alter how saliency is weighted beneath awareness.
The organism is therefore never observing reality directly through pure consciousness. Reality is continuously being:
- filtered,
- indexed,
- prioritised,
- emotionally weighted,
- and structurally assembled,
before it reaches conscious display. The Telencephalon mirrors the final cephalic interpretation.
This explains why human beings can:
- witness the same event,
- hear the same sentence,
- observe the same behaviour,
yet emerge with entirely different conscious realities.
The divergence does not begin consciously. It begins structurally.
Conclusion: The Collapse of the Executive Self
The profound consequence of this architecture is unavoidable:
The conscious self cannot be the sovereign ruler of behaviour.
The cortex cannot claim executive authorship when:
- behavioural integration,
- emotional weighting,
- saliency processing,
- and memory indexing
all occur beneath awareness before conscious narration emerges.
The Telencephalon is therefore the reflective surface of behaviour, not the originator of behaviour.
Consciousness becomes:
- the final witness,
- the symbolic narrator,
- and the reflective display
of an already-integrated cephalic civilisation operating beneath awareness.
The organism behaves first. Awareness of consciousness arrives afterward as the glowing reflection of behavioural reality already assembled below.
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