The External Cortex Loop: Contingency Interruption, Reinstatement, and Cognitive Incorporation in EEG Neurofeedback

Abstract

This theory-and-methods paper proposes a causal assay for deciding when a person-specific EEG-to-sensory feedback process has become functionally incorporated into a learned operation. Participants acquire a live mapping, undergo concealed sensory-matched contingency interruption, receive exact and mismatched reinstatement, and are tested for task-specific loss and rescue. The design grows from the 2011-2022 Neo Mind Cycle and Self Aware Networks genealogy while treating the historical first-person report as a hypothesis generator rather than efficacy evidence. This is version 1.0 of the preprint.