#my recollection of astroglia is fuzzy -- i read about them years ago and they are not as well-studied as neurons

[gynandromorph]

Out of curiosity, how does plurality work with your like… cognitive bandwidth? It seems like having multiple streams of consciousness running in tandem would cause some mental strain. You could acclimate to it, but it would require more nutrients and calories to maintain proper function, like upkeep for larger muscles would.

from what I understand, cognitive processes do not influence energy intake in the brain — eg. our conscious thought is such a small fraction of what the brain does, it is negligible.

that said, it can be tiring, but it is more often energizing. while many people may conceptualize their own experiences as entirely separate, ethereal entities existing in a single body together, I understand that materially all of my consciousness is in one material brain and body. because it is all one brain, several streams would be smaller divisions of one pie, rather than multiple pies stacked on top of each other. when I experience multiple streams of consciousness at once, it's more like more of my brain is awake at the same time.

I don't necessarily understand what mechanisms in the brain cause more exaggerated, disordered dissociation (no one does, currently), but i do feel that it is more mentally taxing for the brain to be forced to maintain dissociative barriers at all times. if it were more efficient, it would be the default way a brain works. still, this is assuming it isn't ENTIRELY structural — and I'm compelled to believe that it is not, because significant changes in dissociative states, such as splitting or integrating, often happen well beyond the formative years when the brain is structuring itself. the brain structures itself adaptively in a variety of ways, but during initial development, astroglia prune off millions of neurons as they "expand" and then die. this is a one-time process that cannot be repeated in adulthood.

On a personal level, I do think it is taxing to have multiple streams of consciousness at once, because decisions must be made in a more methodical, pragmatic way, when they would usually be instant and intuitive. Attention must be shifted repetitiously to account for conflicting goals and desires, resulting in a phenomenon called directed attention fatigue — the "tired" feeling your brain gets after focusing on something for a long time, or doing many smaller tasks back to back. it is a normal phenomenon caused by the anatomical nature of our brain. relevantly, blocking out stimuli to focus on specific objects or tasks is one of the several functional forms of dissociation that the brain uses regularly. it makes sense to me that directing my attention inward over and over to account for various alters fronting simultaneously is mentally taxing.

however, trying to force only one to be conscious at a time when the brain is in a state to "activate" multiple is also a form of intentional dissociation and directional attention, and this is even more exhausting. I would say it can depend heavily on the cohesion between "parts" and how often they use different decision-making protocol, among other personality traits like scrupulousity.

a long way of saying "it's complicated."