Framework: CGW / ICZ / PDE
The model separates event timing, vulnerability geography, and energetic signature. Without this separation, anecdote overwhelms signal.
Formal Definition Block
- CGW — Cognitive Gap Window
- Discrete interruption in executive continuity lasting 120–430 ms in baseline subjects; high-stress cohorts exhibit tails to 780 ms.
- ICZ — Interstitial Capture Zone
- Context cluster where CGW probability increases: thresholds, transitions, repeated motor routines, and low-novelty sensory fields.
- PDE — Phase Drift Envelope
- Distribution describing post-gap recovery lag and narrative backfill; median 2.4 s, with recall confidence peaking despite poor fidelity.
- Peak windows
- 03:17 local-time cluster, 14:08 postprandial dip, and doorway transition peaks at 1.7x baseline frequency.
- Event frequency
- Estimated 210–620 CGW/day in untrained adults, with under-report rate exceeding 99% due to implicit rationalization.
Working Model
1) Attention threads narrow under routine load. 2) CGW opens as predictive processing outruns sensory arbitration. 3) ICZ conditions allow insertion or deletion of micro-intent. 4) PDE masks discontinuity by generating a coherent after-story. The subject leaves convinced nothing happened, except for a subtle atmospheric unease and misplaced action residue.
The archive adopts a conservative interpretation: no claim is considered valid unless it appears across independent ICZ classes and survives diary-to-instrument comparison.
Testable Predictions
- Mitigation scripts should reduce reported intent-collapse incidents at threshold transitions by at least 20% in two weeks.
- Timestamped journaling within 30 seconds should lower retrospective certainty ratings while improving factual match rates.
- Context novelty (new routes, altered lighting, spoken pre-commitments) should weaken corridor-loop signatures.
Readers looking for protocol implementation can continue to the Methodology page. For compact definitions, use the Glossary.