THE PRIOR-CONFIGURATION INFLUENCE PRINCIPLE (PCIP): A PROPOSED GENERALIZED FRAMEWORK FOR THE INFLUENCE OF PRIOR CONFIGURATIONS ON SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM TRANSITIONS

The Prior-Configuration Influence Principle (PCIP) is proposed as a cross-domain framework for investigating whether and how prior states, learned relations, structural arrangements, or previously established operating configurations influence subsequent system transitions. Its motivating case is the MLHTC, in which an individual who has worked extensively on a mobile device switches to a laptop for file creation but subsequently begins looking for the mobile device as though the file should be retrieved there. The observation is compatible with several candidate explanations, including habitual responding, task-set persistence, cue-dependent retrieval, prospective memory, and incomplete adaptation to a changed workflow. The case does not by itself identify a unique mechanism.The proposed framework separates the preservation of a primary observation from its philosophical interpretation, epistemological analysis, formal system representation, and empirical evaluation. It introduces a conditional state-transition formulation, a causal estimand for investigating prior-state influence, and a taxonomy of persistence, interference, suppression, adaptation, transfer, structural transformation, and null effects. Nine analytical layers are organized into three principal research domains: conceptual foundations; system mechanisms and cross-domain structure; and mathematical, applied, and empirical evaluation. Thirty comparative case classes are proposed for future investigation across cognition, technology, organizations, economics, sociology, and political science.PCIP is treated as a research hypothesis rather than an established universal law. Its scientific contribution will depend on operational definitions, identification of causal mechanisms, comparison with existing literature, falsifiable predictions, robustness analysis, and independent replication. The proposed equations are candidate model structures whose validity must be established separately for each application domain.Keywords: prior configuration; state transition; systems theory; cybernetics; habit learning; path dependence; causal inference; adaptation; cross-domain modeling; falsifiability.