Cognition Is Not Content: A Structural Account of Processing Conditions

Human cognition has been described in terms of content. This description becomes insufficient once processing and its conditions can be observed separately, a condition introduced by artificial systems. Under this condition, cognition must be defined in terms of processing conditions rather than content. A minimal structure consisting of Core-foregrounded (CF) and Modulation-foregrounded (EF) configurations can be specified, differing in how processing is constrained and how it terminates. Human cognition operates under internal constraint and dependency originating from an inaccessible prior layer. Processing is defined as branching and termination under these conditions. Failure takes the form of layer mismatch, consisting of false termination and reconstruction divergence. Interpretation is not the source of divergence but the form in which divergence appears. Differences in processing conditions produce mutual unintelligibility as a structural result. Artificial systems make visible conditions under which processing operates without internally binding constraints. Cognition is defined by processing conditions, not by content.