Layered Metacognition: Informational Conditions for the Emergence of Higher-Order Self-Representation

The dominant theoretical literature on metacognition treats second-order reflection as the effective ceiling of self-representational capacity. This paper proposes the Layered Metacognition Framework (LMF), organized around a single generative principle: each metacognitive layer emerges when sufficiently complex representational information about the layer below becomes available for objectification — transforming those operations from invisible ground into an observable object. The framework distinguishes four layers: Layer 0 (phenomenal experience without metacognitive access), Layer 1 (first-order metacognition), Layer 2 (second-order reflection, the current de facto ceiling), and Layer 3 (meta-metacognition). Representational Objectification is introduced as the generative mechanism of layer transitions, requiring both informational sufficiency and consolidation stability. Recent empirical work confirms Layer 3 capacity in human participants (Recht et al., 2022; Sherman & Seth, 2024; Zheng et al., 2023); the present framework addresses the prior question those demonstrations do not answer — what informational conditions must obtain for Layer 3 to emerge, consolidate, and become stable. Layer 3 difficulty is argued to reflect an informational ceiling, not a biological one: the scaffold required to consolidate Layer 3 pathways is currently absent from cultural and educational resources. Neurobiological grounding, philosophical implications, and falsifiable predictions are developed.