Have you ever done any mindfulness meditation? I hit on a similar idea while meditating. My analogy is the brain is like the full spectrum of radio frequencies, but there's a "main station" that is "I". From time to time you lose that signal and tune into something else. And just because you're not listening to it, it doesn't mean the other stations aren't still broadcasting.

I have no idea if there's a biological origin for any of this, but it definitely fits with my experience of meditation and awareness training.