AIM Framework glossary
Transmission Window
Canonical definition
The Transmission Window is the 60-340 millisecond interval during which mirror-neuron systems and social-reward circuits process and integrate mimetic signals into the Decision Hub, prior to the onset of conscious awareness at approximately 300-500ms. The lower bound (approximately 60ms) reflects the earliest reactive motor-mirroring response (Hari et al., 1998). The upper bound (approximately 340ms) reflects predictive goal-state activation in mirror neuron populations (Maranesi et al., 2014). The middle band (100-300ms) reflects goal-state mirroring (Kilner, Friston, and Frith, 2007) and social-comparison circuit activation (Heyes and Catmur, 2022). The entire window falls prior to conscious awareness, which arrives at approximately 300-500ms. Axiom 7 (Preconscious Transmission).
Explanation
The Transmission Window is the fraction of a second (roughly one-third of an eye-blink) during which your brain reads what someone else wants and feeds that reading into your decision system, all before you are consciously aware of anything. By the time you notice wanting something in a social context, the reading has already happened. The window is wide enough to capture everything from the fastest reflexive mirroring of body movement to the slower but still preconscious encoding of another person's goals and intentions. See Preconscious Transmission, Libet Window, Source Opacity, Speed-Selectivity Trade-Off. Established Neuroscience (timing data); Framework-Specific Construct (integration into AIM architecture).
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Construct.
Derivation
Chapter 4, Section 4.3.7; Chapter 8, Section 8.2.7; Chapter 9, Section 9.11.1.