Minimal Conditions for Identity Attribution Under Discontinuity: A Conceptual Research Framework with Guardian, Narrative, Relational, and Predictive Anchors

This first-generation, hypothesis-generating conceptual research framework studies the attribution of identity continuity under interrupted or impaired states of consciousness. Rather than settling the metaphysical nature of identity, it foregrounds the measurable question of the conditions under which observers — or in some cases the system itself — attribute identity continuity to an entity relative to an earlier state. The model proposes four components: Guardian Invariance (G), Narrative Anchors (N), Relational Continuity (R), and Predictive Stability (P). Its central hypothesis is that, under interrupted continuity, identity attribution may in some situations be better explained by relational continuity and predictive stability than by the continuity of autobiographical memory, with dementia as the proposed first empirical test domain. The manuscript reports no empirical data and does not claim the G–N–R–P model is validated; it sets out a conceptual map, falsifiable hypotheses, a pilot-measurement proposal, and a self-critical reviewer-risk analysis. Version 0.1.