Emergence in Emotional Decision-Making: A Resonance-Based Framework Beyond Centralized Control

This preprint proposes a resonance-based framework for emotional decision-making that challenges classical stimulus–response and centralized control models. Building on the Aura-X Ω architecture and the Continuity Reflex Model (CRM), the work argues that emotional decisions do not originate from a single neural “processor” or executive command, but instead emerge from distributed resonance between Temporary Memory (TM) and Bold Memory (BM).Through neuroscientific reasoning, complex systems theory, and real-world analogies—including anticipatory motion sickness, trauma recall, imagination-induced responses, and flash-mob coordination—the paper demonstrates how emotional states arise when resonance crosses dynamic meaning thresholds. Neurochemical release is reframed as a downstream amplification effect rather than the initiating cause of emotion.The framework introduces emotional emergence as a threshold-driven, non-centralized process, offering new implications for emotional intelligence, psychotherapy, free will debates, and affective artificial intelligence. By shifting focus from emotional control to temporal awareness and resonance regulation, the paper provides a unified explanation for anticipatory emotions, persistence without stimuli, and emotional looping phenomena.