Representation making and flow is continuous. Representations are always happening. We do not see representations stop. There are some states where representation making and flow seems to quiet down, or to consolidate (as in meditation or sleep), But the only time we think of representation and awareness as stopping is death.
This is self evident. It is irrefutable. That is, refutations require representation making and processing to occur for the refutation itself to exist.
We experience representation making and processing all the time. We do not have moments where we do not recognize our environment, or recognize how to move, or that there are things around us, even if we do not recognize objects, we recognize that there are things, in a space, in relationship to ourselves, to our bodies. We live in a constant flow of representation activity.
There are representational problems. For instance, we do have failures of comprehension. Certain kinds of illusions and perceptual problems cause representation problems in cases of brain damage. But this supports the idea that representation is constantly occurring. The perceptual failures are not replaced with some "greyness" or nothingness, they are degradations of perceptual ability, or a restriction of perceptual ability. They are quite literally restrictions on representational ability. But though certain kinds of representational abilities are lost, representation making and processing itself continues in people so afflicted. Blind spots are filled in. And when they are not filled in, there seems to be nothing there to fill in for the afflicted person.
People who cannot form long term memories are not cut off from the ability to continue to make representations. They are unable to follow representations that they have made (such as meeting new people) because those representations are not saved or accessible to sufferers of memory loss. The memories simply do not exist.
This degradation of physical functioning degrades representational functioning. But none of the degradations end representation making or processing. There may be significant alteration of functioning, but as longs as there is life, there is representation making.
An AI or computer based repper must be continually engaged in representation making and other kinds of representation processing.
As a matter of speculation. A computer repper like a person, must have periods where it consolidates it's representations and organizes the structures that maintain representations. This particular representation making process, where representations are culled out or reinforced occurs when human and animals sleep. A computer based repper must engage in this same process of representation formation and curation.
We can use memorization and repetition activities to aid in memory formation, but a sleep process where this consolidation can happen is necessary in human beings and animals. As a matter of speculation, how much sleep is required may correspond to how much new and transformative information (representations) are being learned. Sleep in the case of a computer representation producers is about the formation and curation of representations, as well as the elimination of representations, forgetting, just like in human beings.