Published preprint
Valence Under Temporal Constraint: An Umwelt-Based Method for Predicting Felt Experience
A theoretical proposal that valence provides provisional organism-relative priority when action is required before broader processing can resolve relevant uncertainty.
Zenodo · 29 September 2026
The question
Specialised pathways can respond quickly by restricting the information they process. But excluded information may change which action is preferable for an organism. Broader processing can incorporate more information, while taking longer.
The paper examines cases in which the ecological decision deadline arrives before broader processing can resolve the relevant uncertainty. It proposes that valence may supply provisional organism-relative priority under these conditions.
What the paper claims
This is a theoretical proposal. The claim about felt experience is conditional on an affective premise; it is not derived from temporal constraint alone. Publication as a preprint does not establish peer review, empirical validation or consensus.
The complete argument and its limitations are available in the public preprint. This work forms part of my independent research at Synaptic Quanta.