The present theory treats switching as a process-level mechanism of reconfiguration between an externally oriented configuration organized around the current task and a configuration of explicit self-related and metacognitively accessible processing. The theory isolates three jointly testable axes: switching efficiency, the temporal profile of switching, and the dynamic flexibility of functional connectivity. Switching efficiency describes directed transfer from the anterior insula to the default mode network and the frontoparietal network. The temporal profile of switching describes transition latency, state dwell time, transition regularity, and transition entropy. The dynamic flexibility of functional connectivity describes configurational variability, the number of available states, and switching frequency. Switching specifies the transition trajectory between states and is not used to define the action and reflection configurations themselves. Clinical validation is organized as a differential model. Obsessive-compulsive disorder defines a profile of rigid switching with reduced transition efficiency, contraction of state space, increased dwell time, and repeated entry into states of self-control and control monitoring. Dissociative identity disorder is used as a preliminary model of temporal disorganization, for which increased transition entropy, high variability of dwell time, and irregular transition sequences are tested under relatively preserved efficiency of reconfiguration onset. Validation requires comparison of intracranial electroencephalography, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging with hidden Markov models, naturalistic functional magnetic resonance imaging, and task-switching paradigms. The critical test is a double dissociation between rigidity and temporal disorganization after control for static functional connectivity, mean activation, reaction time, task difficulty, movement, arousal level, and clinical covariates.
Ilya Tarasov (Fri,) studied this question.