Sectoral Coupling in Linguistic State Space

TL;DR

This paper introduces a formal framework for analyzing internal dependencies in artificial agents' belief systems using sectoral coupling constants, enabling better understanding of cognitive dynamics and emergent behaviors.

Contribution

It presents a novel system of sectoral coupling constants within the Semantic Manifold framework to quantify and analyze internal cognitive interactions at fixed abstraction levels.

Findings

Defines sectoral coupling constants for cognitive sectors

Provides a taxonomy of intra-level coupling roles

Outlines methods for inferring coupling profiles from data

Abstract

This work presents a formal framework for quantifying the internal dependencies between functional subsystems within artificial agents whose belief states are composed of structured linguistic fragments. Building on the Semantic Manifold framework, which organizes belief content into functional sectors and stratifies them across hierarchical levels of abstraction, we introduce a system of sectoral coupling constants that characterize how one cognitive sector influences another within a fixed level of abstraction. The complete set of these constants forms an agent-specific coupling profile that governs internal information flow, shaping the agent's overall processing tendencies and cognitive style. We provide a detailed taxonomy of these intra-level coupling roles, covering domains such as perceptual integration, memory access and formation, planning, meta-cognition, execution control, and affective modulation. We also explore how these coupling profiles generate feedback loops, systemic dynamics, and emergent signatures of cognitive behavior. Methodologies for inferring these profiles from behavioral or internal agent data are outlined, along with a discussion of how these couplings evolve across abstraction levels. This framework contributes a mechanistic and interpretable approach to modeling complex cognition, with applications in AI system design, alignment diagnostics, and the analysis of emergent agent behavior.