{"paper":{"title":"On Broken Symmetry in Cognition","license":"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["cs.NE"],"primary_cat":"q-bio.NC","authors_text":"Xin Li","submitted_at":"2023-03-07T19:48:13Z","abstract_excerpt":"Cognition is not passive data accumulation but the active resolution of uncertainty through symmetry breaking. This paper argues that both cognitive evolution and development unfold via sequential symmetry-breaking transitions that disrupt innate regularities across space, time, self, and representation. First, spatial symmetry is broken through bilateral body plans and neural codes like grid and place cells, which privilege egocentric orientation and localized encoding. Second, reinforcement learning introduces temporal asymmetry by favoring future rewards, establishing a directional flow of "},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2303.06047","kind":"arxiv","version":2},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2303.06047/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}