The Coupling Asymmetry: A Baseline-Deviation Account of Executive Dysfunction

Executive dysfunction — determining the selective incapacity to initiate or switch tasks despite intact knowledge — remains a central paradox in cognitive science. Why can the same individual spend twelve unbroken hours on a complex, novel project but find themselves paralyzed by a routine email? This paper proposes a formal solution within the Baseline-Deviation Framework (Everett, 2025a). We model executive function not as a depletable resource or a global reward deficit, but as a coupling asymmetry: a systematic imbalance between bottom-up (αBU) and top-down (αTD) drivers of the dynamic coupling parameter κ(t). When αTD≪αBU, the cognitive system becomes novelty-locked. Coupling (κ) flows exclusively toward domains with high intrinsic novelty or emotional salience, while collapsing to near-zero for routine or obligation-coded domains. This single parameter inequality unifies the diverse phenomenology of executive dysfunction: hyperfocus, task paralysis, the "interest-based nervous system," and the paradoxical efficacy of body-doubling. Key Contributions: Formal Model: A differential equation model of cognitive coupling that distinguishes between novelty-driven and priority-driven engagement. The Progressive Collapse Hypothesis: A derivation showing how coupling valleys naturally multiply with life complexity, explaining symptom progression without neurodegenerative decay. Phenomenological Mapping: A rigorous translation between mathematical parameters and the lived experience of "paralysis," "time blindness," and "transition resistance." Intervention Mechanisms: Explains why stimulant medication, body-doubling, and deadline pressure work through distinct causal pathways in the coupling architecture. This work extends the Memory as Baseline Deviation (MBD) framework to the domain of clinical executive function, offering a non-pathologizing, parametric account of neurodivergent cognition. Related Identifiers: Memory as Baseline Deviation (MBD) Framework: 10.5281/zenodo.14175643 Resonant Gate: 10.5281/zenodo.14162295