Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells (VSMCs)

Proposed as the brain's compression/prediction infrastructure where tanha physically manifests; central mechanism in vasocomputation theory.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

thinker

Michael Edward Johnson
studies
Author of the vasocomputation paper; researcher at Symmetry Institute (QRI) studying consciousness, active inference, and Buddhist phenomenology.

concept

Upādāna
aboutassociated_with
Buddhist concept distinct from tanha; April 2025 update clarifies that upādāna (impulsive physical clenching) is the VSMC manifestation of tanha bias.
Latch-Bridge Mechanism
associated_with
Smooth muscle mechanism where myosin heads latch to actin, holding tension without ongoing energy; forms/dissolves over seconds to minutes; can persist minutes to years.
Cessations
about
Buddhist contemplative milestone theorized as near-complete absence of vasomotion; key prediction differentiating vasocomputation theory from alternatives.
Inference landscape
associated_with
The combination of SOHMs and vascular tension that defines the brain's inference process.
Top-down predictive models
associated_with
Generative models in the brain that predict sensory input; proposed to be physically stored in VSMC motifs.

hypothesis

Vascular Clamp Hypothesis (VCH): Vascular contractions freeze local neural patterns and plasticity for the duration of contraction, with specific constrictions encoding specific predictions, functioning as medium-term memory.
about
Second core hypothesis, linking VSMC contraction to active inference predictions and memory.
Compressive Vasomotion Hypothesis (CVH)
about
Vasomotion reflex functions as compression sweep collapsing neural ambivalence into definite states; vasomotion motifs are reflexive reactions to uncertainty.
Latched Hyperprior Hypothesis (LHH)
about
Sustained vascular contractions engage latch-bridge mechanism, durably freezing neural circuits and isolating them from conscious experience; creates durable hyperprior commitments.

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

VSMC latchesconcept0.747
Persistent vascular contractions via latch-bridge, proposed to freeze local circuits, sum of which accounts for majority of bodily suffering.
VSMCs are the brain's compression/prediction infrastructure — where top-down predictive models are physically stored.claim0.747
Central thesis linking VSMCs to predictive coding.
Smooth muscle cell motifs are where the brain's top-down predictive models are hiding.claim0.734
Key claim for the FEP-AI community about the physical location of predictive models.
Membrane voltage (Vmem)concept0.733
The resting potential across cell membranes; a coarse-grained bioelectrical parameter that encodes pattern information.
Resting Membrane Potential (Vmem)concept0.726
Electrostatic difference across cell membranes set by ion channels; the fundamental information-processing currency of bioelectric networks in development and behavior.
Smooth muscle tension (especially latched) is involved in a wide range of health problems.claim0.717
Broad health implication of the theory.
Vascular system motifs are the means by which we manipulate sensations.claim0.704
Theravada Buddhism mapping: vascular system as the physical basis of tanha-driven sensation manipulation.
Vascular clampconcept0.704
Contraction of VSMCs that freezes local neural patterns and plasticity for the duration of contraction, functioning as medium-term memory.