Coherence Maintenance: A Structural Theory of Cognition

Coherence Maintenance: A Structural Theory of Cognition reframes cognition as the continuous preservation of internal coherence under conditions of noise, pressure, and uncertainty. Rather than treating mind as computation, representation, or prediction, this paper identifies coherence maintenance as the primary cognitive operator from which attention, memory, identity, meaning, reasoning, and development emerge. It shows how cognitive stability, breakdown, and transformation can be understood as shifts in coherence load and coherence strategy, offering a substrate‑independent account of mind that applies across biological, artificial, and social systems. This structural theory provides a unified framework for understanding cognitive function, dysfunction, and growth, and positions coherence—not information processing—as the central explanatory principle of cognition.