Oliver Selfridge In Symposium on the mechanization of thought processes. 1959 http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/pandemonium.html
The paradigm that Selfridge presented was of a self-organizing and self-maintaining system. It was an effort to combine concepts of computer processing with those that might be used by the brain.
I see it as Darwin's theory of evolution applied to an explanation of brain function. I also see it as analogous to Weinberger's concept of "small pieces loosely joined."
Selfridge wrote of brain modules, although he used the more colorful term, demon. He imagined a field of demons all shouting for attention (pandemonium). The demons may get positive inputs that strengthen their voices. The may also get negative inputs that quiet them.
Now think of these demons as modules made of collections of interconnected neurons
Louder neurons form more connections. April 21, 2005 issue of Nature: In CNS development, neurons grow and later prune dendrite arbors. The squeaky neuron gets the grease. Louder neurons drown out their quieter neighbors. Louder neurons get to keep their connections.
Source:
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/node/7775
(Nature:April 21, 2005 issue)
You can influence the modules by choosing inputs to your brain. That's how you trigger a memory or come up with an idea. That's how subliminal perception works. That's probably how meditation and other practices that influence attention work.
