Consciousness Boundary Models: Admissibility Limits in Recursive Cognitive Systems

Cognitive systems evolve through recursive processing of information within structural constraints imposed by biological and computational architectures. Within the Paton System, continuation of any system requires admissibility: each new state must remain compatible with the governing constraints of the system. This paper interprets consciousness not as a substance or isolated property but as a region of admissible recursive cognition. Conscious awareness corresponds to stable propagation of cognitive states within a bounded structural frame. When recursion exceeds admissible limits—through overload, fragmentation, or structural incompatibility—coherent cognition collapses. The resulting boundary conditions define a structural limit to conscious processing. This interpretation reframes consciousness as a stability region within recursive cognitive systems rather than a standalone phenomenon and aligns cognitive science with the admissibility framework of the Paton System.