EPIGENETIC TELEONOMY: A CONTROL-THEORETIC FRAMEWORK FOR CONTEXT-TO-CHROMATIN TRANSDUCTION

Epigenetic research explains how chromatin states store biological history, yet a recurring challenge remains: translating context-level variables (appraisal, learning, perceived threat/safety, structured interventions) into preregisterable hypotheses about when, where, and how measurable chromatin distributions should change.This paper introduces Epigenetic Teleonomy, a control-theoretic modeling framework that treats the epigenome as a regulated dynamical system relaxing toward an operationally defined reference regime.The practical value is a preregistration-ready language that converts context-to-chromatin questions into (i) explicit reference construction rules primarily from within-subject baselines (optionally weakly regularized by population priors), (ii) a single primary distribution-level endpoint quantifying deviation from that reference, and (iii) a mediated actuation hypothesis in which protocol-defined physical input trajectories influence chromatin dynamics through measurable neurophysiological mediator trajectories and downstream nuclear effectors, without requiring a direct chromatin-binding ligand as the explanatory primitive.The framework is designed to stand or fall on two preregistered discriminative predictions: (1) expectancy-matched discrimination between algorithmically assigned congruent versus mismatch inputs undera dictionary-locked congruence definition with adequacy gates, and (2) preregistered early ordering in variance-sensitive fast-proxy modules that precedes detectable phenotype change.The result is a reviewer-readable bridge from inputs to chromatin dynamics that is falsifiable via preregistered discrimination tests and out-of-sample identification of a constrained mediator-to-module actuation map.