The cognitive scientist Marvin Minsky imagined that the brain has different agents for different tasks, like, say, listening to music. Searchers at the lowest level collect data, like notes, peaks, or pulses; above them, Difference-Finders discern objects, separating figure from ground; and at the top, Structure Builders try to make sense of all the lower levels (perhaps identifying a "sequence" or "polyphony"). All of these guys are highly nested, and at each level agents compete to have their "interpretation" heard. So what happens when there's not much going on?
When none of them has any solid evidence for long enough, then agents change at random, or take turns. Thus, anything gets interesting — in a way — if monotonous enough! We all know how, when word or phrase is oft enough repeated, it — or we — begin to change; because the restless Searchers start to amplify minutiae, interpret noise as structure.