# Cognitive warfare

Alvaro Pastor

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Alvaro Pastor. Cognitive warfare. 2025. hal-04420986v2

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Cognitive warfare:
The Weaponisation of the Science
of Brain and Behaviour

Alvaro Pastor

Computer Science, Multimedia
and Telecommunications Department.
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Barcelona 08018, Spain
alvaropastor@uoc.edu

**Abstract.** Military powers have consolidated in the last two decades a way to erase the boundaries between peacetime and crisis and wage a continuous war. Cognitive warfare (CW) has been proposed as the most advanced form to-date of manipulation of behaviour at mass scale to obtain strategic advantage. Instead of the corpse-ridden battle fields of kinetic warfare, the theatre of operations of CW is the human mind, and therein operations are realised on the fields of perception, emotion and memory. The goal is not termination but a permanent form of control. This opinion article reviews methods of CW focused on the human aspects that may be manipulated not to merely control what populations think, but how they think and thus how they act. It is argued that the weaponisation of sciences of brain and behaviour, combined with a distributed-computing technological milieu, can be utilised in CW to fine-tune societal and subject-level factors rendering not only all opposition infertile, but the very fact of being oppressed desirable.

**Keywords:** Persuasion · Memory · Manipulation · Computer Networks

# 1 Introduction

World War II (WWII) marked a unique era in scientific and technological development, as it advanced the mechanistic world-view to an unprecedented scale. From decision-making and logistics, up to each mechanised vehicle, weapon, and its operator on the battleground, the accelerated mechanisation of warfare was only a new step in the trajectory of this four centuries old assumption [186,53]. All opposing actors in WWII devotedly relied in their mechanistic grip over the battlefield, which as a result would maximise gains over losses. Moreover, one of the most important bounties carried by victors back home from Nazi Germany was no other than Nazi scientists and their cutting-edge technological developments [79,86,116]. The war in the European theatre died-off when Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945. But more importantly, the proof of birth of a new scientific-technological world hegemon was conclusive in July 1945, with
the push of the Manhattan Project and the nuclear fission capabilities exhibited twice over Japan. These events established absolute scientific-technological domination of the allied countries, in particular the United States of America (USA), over the world. In the decades that followed, the mechanistic view that proved its effectiveness on the battlefield was gradually extended to focus on the world as a unitary management problem. The global population was regarded as one object of management, with the maximisation of gains over losses established as the primary objective [174,232]. Important scientific fields such as cybernetics, the study of complex and adaptive systems, and the sciences of brain and behaviour, experienced accelerated development due to their pivotal military applications during WWII [59]. A relevant part of these scientific fields have remained intertwined with the military power ever since, in a highly dependent relationship for funding, access to technologies, and experimental opportunities [89,143].

On these grounds, on June 21st 2021 the North Atlantic Treatise Organisation (NATO) by means of its Innovation Hub, hosted in France their first meeting on Cognitive Warfare (CW) [42]. For NATO, CW sits at the interface of the two military fields managed so far separately: the field of psychological operations, and the field of information technologies and cyber warfare. The foundation of CW relies heavily on knowledge accumulated from science of brain and behaviour, applied at-scale through computing and network technologies, alongside principles derived from the study of social, complex, and adaptive systems. The primary objective of CW is to achieve strategic dominance without direct confrontation, by altering the enemy's perception of reality, and enable control and prediction of populations' desires and beliefs [42]. CW's ultimate objective thus shifts from physical destruction to pervasive cognitive control, producing the conditions which enable the extraction of maximum net gains from an enemy. In this sense, CW is directed at the structure of cognition, which is responsible for all spontaneous conceptual representations of reality, both at the individual and group levels. The implementation of CW relies on computer-based social networks, which serve as conduits for pervasive and persistent dissemination of signals, forming together an engineered information environment. Crucially, owing to its reliance on electronic networks, the target of CW may not necessarily be constrained by geographic limits or political borders. Within this framework, CW would be carried out by a coordinated network of agents which extend beyond military experts, to include trusted public figures, media production companies, industry leaders, and scientists. These function as information sources and reference points for the construction of public sentiment and beliefs. When these CW assets work coordinated, they can establish a conceptual framework that can be detached from realities on the ground and can sustain long-term influence.

Although protected under the veil of secrecy, a number of declassified documents over the last decades have shown methods and technologies that can arguably be considered precursors of today's CW ensemble [269,210]. Indeed, using an approach that attempts to confuse fact and fiction denominated intel-
*ligent fiction*, a 2020 essay from NATO's Allied Command Transformation office suggested CW as the new, sixth domain of military operations, in addition to the five existing domains land, sea, air, cyber and space [43]. This article examines evidence of CW's cognitive dimension, demonstrating how technological and scientific advances which in recent decades enabled progress in human health and telecommunications, can be weaponised to distort perception, fragment attention, degrade memory and analytical capabilities, and ultimately reshape a population's representation of reality.

# 2 Milestones in History

## 2.1 The mechanic in the mental

Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of regulatory systems, examining how information, feedback, and control mechanisms govern behaviour in machines, organisms, and social structures. The field crystallised in the decade of 1940, emerging from the convergence of WWII-era military research and attempts to formalise neural mechanisms of psychological phenomena in mathematical language [284,36]. Between 1946 and 1953, the Macy Foundation in New York sponsored a series of conferences that unified many disciplines under the cybernetic programme: engineering, physics, biology, neural and behavioural science. These conferences constituted a landmark as they were the first to develop a cohesive theory of systems that approached behaviour in humans as well as in social processes from a strict mechanistic perspective [103,194]. Using a common mechanistic understanding of brain and behaviour, research fields such as complex and adaptive systems, and network computing technologies emerged from the cybernetic programme. *Feedback* was the main concept that differentiated cybernetics from other mechanistic explanations. Feedback is defined as the cyclical interaction of causally linked elements in a system, introducing non-linear dynamics. Feedback provides a framework to model emergent phenomena not reducible to individual components, enabling both predictive models and co-evolutionary dynamics in system shaping and control [173,216].

Importantly, the approach of cybernetics towards human cognition was grounded in over a century of accumulated behavioural and neural data. A substantial contribution came from a team led by neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, who in 1853 conducted one of the most extensive pathological classifications and postmortem studies of neurological diseases at Pitié Salpêtrière hospital in France [292,84]. From an observational science, neurology gradually developed into a systematic way of approaching the nervous system and possible interventions in psychiatric diseases. Following this thread, in 1934 Wilder Penfield and Herbert Jasper at McGill University's Montreal Neurological Institute made relevant advances on a complete localisation map of brain functions. The *Montréal Procedure* introduced a method for localising brain areas in fully awake patients to allow surgeons to destroy parts of the brain which were thought to be diseased [135]. Furthermore, under Ewen Cameron's directorship beginning in 1943, the Allan
Memorial Institute developed some of the most promising neurological and psychological treatments available at the time. Collectively termed psychic driving, these techniques involved electroconvulsive therapy, sleep and dietary manipulations, and sensory overload and deprivation [217,34]. These stressors were used as cognitive disruptors that forced individuals into a malleable cognitive state, facilitating behavioural reprogramming, following a mechanistic process conceptually akin to digital data manipulation [234]. Further, these procedures were coupled with chemical interventions to provoke transient amnesic states via disruption of encoding or consolidation, to facilitate the introduction of new contents of memory [21,57]. In 1953 the start of MKUltra programme comprising around 80 institutions and 150 subprojects, consolidated research on materials and of techniques capable of producing behavioural or physiological change [38,268].

From a politico-military perspective, the manipulation of memory can be critical to generate source-motivated behaviour, potentially producing fully committed and controllable agents [147,155]. While the experimental procedures carried out at the Allan Memorial and other institutes achieved only partial success in producing different degrees of amnesia, and subsequent behavioural change, they consistently inflicted important psychological trauma, including post-traumatic neurosis, with some victims reduced to a vegetative state from which they had to re-learn their world [223,177]. Nevertheless, these psycho-physiological methods were further advanced and packaged in USA Central Intelligence Office's (CIA) *KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation* guide, [295] and Human Resource Exploitation manual, which were provisioned to CIA agents worldwide since 1963 and 1983 respectively. By the decade of 1970, British forces in Northern Ireland employed some of these techniques under the term *depth interrogation method* [234]. By 1980, the U.S. Army's Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (SERE) programme trained soldiers against the effects of these methods, including sensory and sleep manipulation. Though MKUltra was officially halted in 1973, many of its techniques, personnel, and research trajectories persisted through private contractors and academic collaborations, rebranded as counterterrorism tools. Academic projects like Harvard's Project Slammer, explored mass behavioural manipulation under the guise of counterterrorism research. By the decade of 2000, these precursors of CW leveraged early data-driven profiling and surveillance [210], in combination with empirical data on human vulnerability obtained in the SERE programme, to conform a novel toolkit for extracting confessions termed *enhanced interrogation techniques* [168,267].

## 2.2 The mental in the mechanic

A parallel dream to that of programmable humans, is that of machines with cognitive abilities of their own [76,77]. The Cold war had accelerated the cybernetic product of *cognified objects*, hardware and software objects simulating some level of a cognitive function. The aim of cognified objects was to facilitate communication, real-time awareness and decision-making, first for the military [252] and later for social planning [129], and the political [51,275] and financial sectors [111]. Since their involvement in WWII, significant USA military
research efforts went into missile guidance as a top priority only second to the
atomic bomb. Although not utilised in actual combat, one milestone in military
*cognified objects* is Project Pigeon, developed by Burrhus Frederic Skinner. Con-
ceived around 1940 and officially presented in 1943 [239], this *Bird's-Eye Bomb*
was based on principles of operant conditioning applied to pigeons. Chosen for
superior vision and stress tolerance, pigeons were placed within the missiles'
guidance modules, where they pecked at pre-trained targets on a screen showing
real time terrain images, to steer the missile [240]. Early warning systems for
incoming airborne threats can be considered another application of cognified ob-
jects. Deployed since early in the decade of 1950, these systems were distributed
worldwide as a network composed of a variety of sensing and tracking modules
sweeping through the skies for incoming threats. Based on this network, software
systems such as the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment would automatically
distinguish incoming threats and coordinate appropriate interception measures.
Similarly, the set of armaments referred to as *intelligent weapons* utilised since
the US invasion of Iraq effective in 1991, exhibit cognitive inspiration. These
involve a wide range of applications, from light amplifying goggles for ground
troops, to missile guidance, stealth aircraft, as well as satellite imaging and bal-
listic guidance networks [247].

A more extensive use cognitive-inspired computational architectures can be
found in the systems for logistic support in the armed forces. An example of this,
is the Intelligent Distribution Agent (IDA) developed in the decade of 1990 for
the USA Navy [72,73]. Specifically, IDA was responsible for the management of
the assignments of each sailor's tour of duty. This includes negotiating with the
sailor via an e-mail correspondence in natural language, and accessing and under-
standing data in a variety of Navy databases. Although IDA was not developed
to test theoretical cognitive models, it is nonetheless based on psychological and
neurobiological theories of cognition, embodying principles like dynamic resource
routing resembling a smart nervous system, hybrid rule-based and learning al-
gorithms for constrained decisions, and decentralised control mirroring adaptive
biological systems [6]. This approach finds a modern counterpart in Palantir's
Gotham [199]. Gotham was primarily designed for government intelligence, de-
fence, and law enforcement agencies. Its core purpose is to help analysts inte-
grate, manage, and make sense of massive, disparate datasets to reveal patterns,
generate insights, and support complex decision-making. Gotham is explicitly
designed to enhance human cognitive abilities by reducing cognitive burden and
improving the speed and depth of analysis. This system integrates vast amounts
of structured and unstructured data (e.g. intelligence reports, sensor feeds, com-
munication records). It features hypothesis-testing via the simulation of different
scenarios, evaluating potential courses of action based on live data and system
recommendations.

Other successful cognitive-like software applications can be found in social
applications emerging throughout the decade of 1990 [222,260], in particular
in computer-aided financial analysis, a field which has followed a comparable
evolution to that of decision-making and organisation in the military [248,54].
Arguably the most relevant of these cases is Blackrock's Aladdin financial analytics and risk management system. Started in 1988, this vast networked system analyses and tracks investments, makes financial forecasts and leads decision-making based on historical data, helping human operators spotting risks and opportunities. In 2020 Alladin was reportedly found to manage at least 21.6 trillion USA dollars in assets, from data of only a third of its clients, which include Apple, Microsoft, Google's parent firm, Alphabet and Japanese government pension fund [111]. Palantir Foundry, is another case that extends cognitive-inspired design to enterprise operations [200]. Foundry's ontology system functions as a central nervous system, integrating real-time data, historical context, and human inputs. Like synaptic plasticity, its knowledge graphs dynamically reweigh relationships as new data is ingested, while persistent memory of past states enables environment-driven adaptation, mirroring the emergent, self-tuning properties of biological neural networks.

## 2.3 The theatre of operations is the mind

Embracing this vast scientific knowledge and practical expertise, the domain of CW was developed since 2013 by the Innovation Hub of NATO in collaboration with the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Cognitique in France [42]. By 2018 the notion of CW was defined as the coupling of the science of behaviour, together with the science of computing networks [41]. In addition to the five existing domains, land, sea, air, cyber and space, CW emerged as the sixth domain of warfare [43]. CW comprises the means of action that a group of influence uses to manipulate the spontaneous mechanisms of cognition of an enemy population. In order to achieve this, CW would not only dispose of a vast stock of empirical data from neural and cognitive science, collected for more than one century. Additionally, CW would benefit from the widest-to-date network of pervasive computing, capable not only of conveying tailored stimuli, but also collecting individualised data. Considering this landscape, past research has described the brain as the battlefield of the twenty-first century and formulated the hypothesis of a weaponisation of neuroscience [80].

## 3 Wetware as target

Although networks of cognified objects play a decisive role in the CW battlespace, this article is principally concerned with reviewing the methods of CW from a neurocognitive perspective. The central objective of CW is the manipulation of wetware, the cognitive and neural architectures that scaffold behaviour and reasoning. Subsequent sections examine perceptual, emotional, and cognitive phenomena—alongside their corresponding non-pharmacological exploitation methods, and their implementation via pervasive computational networks. Following a hierarchical framework organised by scale of influence, the analysis progresses from transient, atomic-scale effects, to long-term effects and integration into persistent meaning systems.
## 3.1 Beyond the threshold

At its most basic, manipulation of spontaneous cognitive processes starts at the level of signals, engineering perceptual inputs to produce a cognitive effect outside of an individual's conscious awareness and control. An engineered information environment refers to a purposefully constructed and managed informational landscape to which individuals are exposed. Perceptual load theory provides a framework for understanding how engineered information environments can contain information outside the scope of conscious awareness [139,138]. High perceptual load can be met using simultaneous and rapid exposure to multiple, dynamically changing information from multiple sensory modalities. Under high perceptual load, a selection mechanism prioritises only stimuli classified as immediately relevant, while filtering out information deemed peripheral during early processing stages. Past research has posited that one of the key limitations of this selection mechanism is that in situations of high perceptual load, selective attention could filter out potentially valuable or essential information [140,61]. Engineered information environments can exploit this perceptual filtering mechanism by systematically misdirecting attentional selection. Such designs can aim to reduce the probability that event-critical information reaches conscious awareness, thereby distorting real-time interpretation while maintaining superficial plausibility.

Engineered information environments can also hinder the holistic processing of incoming signals by inducing high cognitive load conditions. High cognitive load conditions can affect working memory, reducing the scope of cognitive processing, and decreasing the likelihood of long-term memory integration [187]. Working memory can be conceived as the continued attention to a mixture of activated internal knowledge and recently perceived external information [45,202]. High cognitive load conditions can be met by combining loads from external and internal sources, for instance pushing a button whenever a given stimulus matches internal and external target conditions [198]. Under high cognitive load, stimuli that are seemingly irrelevant for a task can be disproportionately filtered out, as working memory resources become selectively allocated only to goal-relevant information [237,16]. In turn, the cognitive processing and integration of this task-irrelevant information into long-term memory can be significantly reduced [253]. Consequently, tasks that extensively draw upon working memory resources can hinder the processing and holistic integration of concurrently presented, seemingly task-irrelevant, information. This in turn, limits the depth and scope of information processing, analysis and comprehension, while potentially rendering the long-term memory integration of novel information less likely [211].

Arrangements of input signals can be designed to determine the success of memory integration of immediate information. Memory research has established a close association between the memory function and increased neuronal oscillatory activity in the theta (i.e., 3-8 Hz range), and gamma (i.e., 40-120 Hz range) frequencies, alongside a decrease in alpha (i.e., 8-12 Hz range) frequency [74,28]. Theta oscillations are important for synchronising neuronal activity both within and across brain structures [251], while gamma oscillations are thought to reflect
local processing within a brain region and are supported by local interneurons [48]. The coupling of theta phase and gamma amplitude allows local processing to be connected to global neural activity [142]. Additionally, higher frequency sharp-wave ripples are known to be associated with memory processes [29,30]. Altogether, the adequate orchestration of these oscillations has been directly linked to memory performance [5]. Research on the phenomenon of entrainment, the synchronisation of body rhythms with external cues, suggests that the exposition to relatively simple periodical external stimulation, employing auditory or visual signals, can forcibly disrupt these oscillatory dynamics [261,134,97]. Consequently, the design of signal arrangements engineered to disrupt these particular oscillatory dynamics, delivered during critical periods in memory processes, can substantially hinder the capacity of individuals to successfully encode and integrate novel information into existing memory representations [65,78,224].

Because emotional responses are automatic, rapid, and largely unconscious, their disruptive influence can be exploited to impair information processing, hindering the integration of immediate information into long-term memory. Crucially, emotional responses operate with limited opportunity for cognitive control processes, which are typically initiated only after the emotional onset [141]. Empirical evidence indicates that specific emotional conditions can force the individual to prioritise attention on the source of emotion elicitation, over holistic perception and memory processing [25,205]. Evidence indicates that negative valence high arousal events (e.g., fear) have a trade-off effect on memory, where memory for central information of an emotional event is enhanced at the expense of memory for neutral peripheral information [125,124]. Negative valence arousing information can not only disrupt the memory encoding of peripheral information, but also the associations between peripheral and central information [262]. Collectively, these effects can impede the memory encoding of contextual details, such as the spatial location of an event, alongside the recall other neutral information or individuals present, and subsequently hinder the integration of these representations into long-term memory [63,62]. Interestingly, after an emotional experience, individuals can show increased subjective confidence in their memories, despite attenuated encoding of both neutral peripheral information, and associations between central and peripheral information [212]. Given that attentional focus during emotional experiences is predominantly anchored to the emotional source and its spatially or conceptually proximate elements [144], information can be strategically positioned outside this attentional sphere, to co-occur with emotional stimuli that deliberately divert cognitive resources. This misdirection of the focus of working memory can ensure that the peripheral information is excluded from perception and subsequent memory processing, regardless of its objective relevance. Furthermore, the exposure to emotional information can reactivate in individuals neurophysiological traces of past trauma through perceptual, semantic, or contextual association. This, in particular in individuals who have developed post-traumatic stress disorder, can increase the likelihood of experiencing involuntary retrieval of traumatic events or intrusions. Intrusive memories involve emotional mental imagery that intrudes into mind
involuntarily [113], and can further disrupt processing of immediate information [264,256,163]. In addition, the exposure of post-traumatic stress disorder individuals to trauma-related sensory input has been linked to aberrant oscillatory brain dynamics which may further compromise memory function for immediate events [110,40,293]. Consequently, by engineering high arousal negative valence emotional states in individuals, the processing of information co-occurring with emotional stimuli can be compromised, distorting holistic event interpretation, and impairing its future retrieval from memory [104].

Implicit memory processes, that operate automatically outside the domain of conscious awareness, can also be exploited to obtain an immediate cognitive effect. Within hierarchical models of memory, implicit memory refers to manifestations of memory that occur in the absence of intentions to recollect [169]. Implicit learning processes are understood to generate context-independent knowledge representations through abstraction of regularities, ranging from generalised representations of perceptual features, to particular representations of semantic features [46]. These implicit representations are updated and consolidated by repeated occurrence throughout an individual's lifespan. An example of targeting implicit memory phenomena, using information outside of conscious awareness, can be observed in the effects of priming. Priming describes the phenomenon by which encountering one stimulus causes the unconscious, temporary activation of a pre-existing network of conceptual or perceptual representations associated with that stimulus in memory, thereby biasing the processing of subsequent stimuli [213]. In subliminal priming, a stimulus is presented so briefly that the subject is unable to consciously identify it, and its effects can be comparable to those of supraliminal priming [60,276]. For instance, emotional images presented subliminally were able to produce more positive or negative affective judgements toward subsequently presented neutral symbols [188], and to change the current mood of individuals [179]. Similarly past research manipulating the positive or negative valence of a word, biased participants' judgements regarding immediately subsequent encounters of the stimulus' associates [90]. Moreover, subliminal priming can bias responses in free choice tasks in which participants can freely decide between multiple equally correct response alternatives [127,196]. Evidence consistently shows that subliminal priming effects can influence conscious, rational decision-making for a period up to half an hour after exposure, and diminish over time especially in response to naturally occurring interference [219,218,13], however other studies have reported longer effect intervals [159]. Further, past research has examined how subliminal priming could influence behaviour outside of the laboratory, in particular in advertising and political marketing. Evidence shows that subliminal exposure to symbols such as a national flag, can influence immediate political attitudes, and decisions in real-world behaviour [100,281,75,99].

Methods derived from classical conditioning can also mediate the exploitation of implicit memory phenomena outside of the scope of conscious awareness to obtain an immediate effect. Classical conditioning highlights a learning process where a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) (e.g., a bell) is repeatedly paired with
a salient unconditioned stimulus (US) (e.g., food), eventually eliciting in individ-
uals a conditioned response (CR) (e.g., salivation) to the CS alone. Unconscious
conditioning is based on rapid presentation of the CS, outside of the scope of con-
scious awareness. Crucially, this approach has been demonstrated using neither
conscious perception of the CS nor awareness of the CS–US contingency [91].
Unlike priming, classical conditioning does not require any pre-existing seman-
tic or perceptual relationship between the CS and US. During acquisition, the
repeated co-occurrence of CS-US, paired or within brief interstimulus intervals,
can render the CS able to elicit a CR by generating a predictive relationship
involving contingency and contiguity between CS and US [285]. These uncon-
scious associations are fragile, and without sustained training, susceptible to
rapid decay or interference [130]. In some studies, symbolic CS were paired with
overlearned, valenced words as US, with the facilitation of valence classification
serving as the resultant CR [91]. Research has alternatively involved the use of
neutral letter strings as CS, paired with either negatively or positively valenced
US, with the affective evaluations of previously unseen stimuli then serving as
the CR [121]. Similarly, other studies have successfully conditioned participants
employing an unfamiliar commercial brand as CS, paired with a pleasant picture
as US, and a change in attitude towards the brand acting as the CR [245]. Fear
conditioning has been achieved using both subliminal emotional stimuli as CS
[183,208], and emotionally neutral subliminal stimuli as CS [39]. Other successful
conditioning studies have implemented expositions to subliminal sexual stimuli
as CS, and physiological stimulation as US, while evaluating physiological sig-
nals of genital arousal as CR [20]. Moreover, subliminal stimuli have been used
in classical conditioning procedures to analgesic and hyperalgesic pain responses
[119,207].

In summary, information environments can be engineered to present infor-
mation outside of the scope of conscious awareness and cognitive control pro-
cesses, to leverage cognitive effects. Through perceptual and cognitive load ma-
nipulation, the entrainment phenomena, automatic emotional responses to high
intensity stimuli, and implicit memory phenomena such as subliminal priming
and classical conditioning, an engineered environment can misdirect focus of at-
tention, make information less memorable, and manipulate acceptance towards
immediately subsequent pieces of information in order to influence immediate
conscious decision-making.

3.2 Event-driven persuasion

Event-driven persuasion refers to the strategic deployment of transient disrup-
tive informational events, engineered to leverage their emotional salience and
epistemic disruptiveness, to manipulate belief formation, and mobilise change
in individuals’ attitudes and behaviours. Event-driven persuasion and narrative
manipulation operate as complementary strata of cognitive influence, differen-
tiated but mutually reinforcing. Whereas narratives are built for subtle persis-
tence, event-driven persuasion functions deploying acute, high-intensity stimuli,
to accelerate narrative adoption and define narrative direction. The event-driven
persuasive approach can leverage genuine events or be based on entirely fabri-
cated information.

One historical example of this paradigm can be found in *false flag* opera-
tions. Recorded roughly since the 16th century [259], such operations rely on
highly visible violent acts, engineered to be falsely attributed to a target group
or state [201,282,9]. The efficacy of this type of event-driven persuasion hinges
on the strategic interplay of a dramatic or life-threatening event that generates
a sharp emotional response, with the timely determination of the responsible
party. The dissemination of this fact-based fabrication through trusted informa-
tion channels can result in not only the intentional misrepresentation of an at-
tacker's allegiance, but more importantly, the production of a synchronised surge
in collective emotion among the domestic and allied populations. This aims to
facilitate the setting of new conditions in which more radical commitments can
be met (e.g. riskier operations, more extensive and intensive war efforts). In its
contemporary use, false flag operations have been reported in both the kinetic
[160,181,18] and cyber warfare domains [241].

The dynamics of citizen-led protest movements create an opportunity for a variant of false flag operations, in which ostensible peaceful demonstrations are infiltrated by CW agents to initiate a cascade of violence. An engineered act of violence can have a twofold effect. From the protesters' perspective, it can generate a synchronised surge in high arousal emotion, whether negative (e.g., stress) or positive valence (e.g., pride, euphoria). At the same time, it sets up a behavioural example that is readily available to imitate. Consequently, genuine participants under altered emotional states, especially those susceptible to peer influence (e.g. adolescents), can be more likely to mirror such violent actions and trigger a cascade effect [165]. Results from prior studies on social conformity, underscore how fear and stress can render individuals more likely to imitate others, further reinforcing collective behaviours [246]. From an external perspective, however, a violent cascade can swiftly trigger repudiation of the protest. By providing crucial validation for its strategic narrative, this variant of false flag operation can further galvanise the opposing faction, thereby intensifying societal polarisation.

In contrast to fact-based operations, a different type of event-driven persua-
sion involves the engineering of completely fictitious events. A historical example
of the effectiveness of this approach can be found in George Orwell's narrated
radio adaptation of the novel *The War of the Worlds*, broadcasted in 1938 in
the US [230]. Crucially, this fictional radio programme was presented as a real
news bulletin. The illusion of authenticity, plus the public trust place on radio
newscasts, together with an already tense international political climate, con-
vinced many listeners that an actual invasion was happening, and in lack of any
alternative points of reference, widespread panic ensued [35,164]. A contempo-
rary manifestation of this phenomenon can be observed in the mechanisms used
to rally participants in citizen-led protest movements. In this paradigm, emo-
tionally salient or epistemologically disruptive information, is disseminated via
mass communication networks, such as social media. The design of these mate-
rials aims at two objectives. Firstly, eliciting a synchronised spike in emotional
responses (e.g., outrage). Secondly, provide direction for a resolution of this emo-
tional state, often encoded as call-to-action (e.g., sharing, petitioning, symbolic
condemnation). This combination tends to arouse compromise and mobilisa-
tion in individuals, increasing the likelihood of galvanisation of pre-determined
groups. The success of this paradigm is largely accentuated due to the electronic
nature of the content and of the dissemination channels. The use of computer
networks to disseminate event-driven persuasive information entails several ad-
vantages over other media. Networks can facilitate the adaptation of delivery
style to different platforms and audiences, while maintaining a unified core mes-
sage. This in turn, can artificially build trust through consistency and perva-
siveness [69]. Further, networks can facilitate the collection and storage of large
amounts of real-time individualised data, which can be key for timely and adap-
tive targeting. Moreover, past research has revealed the intricacies of algorithmic
curation mechanisms of popular social networks, which can be used to support
event-based persuasion [93,120,258,189,105,17]. In particular, the prioritisation
of content in terms of engagement metrics, and the predominance of homophilic
architectures that prioritise like-minded user links and content exchanges.

The combination of these features can facilitate the implementation of event-
driven persuasive campaigns at mass scale. For instance, an event-driven cam-
paign can capitalise on available user-generated information across social net-
works to examine real-time sentiment, and adaptively design coherent informa-
tion that targets immediate emotional and logical triggers. Information can be
crafted based on individualised data profiles, and in particular, susceptibility to
prior persuasive interventions [112]. To enhance credibility, user profiles could
have been crafted in advance to appear highly trustworthy, or even designed
to impersonate trusted sources. This trust can be further misdirected by the
implementation of networks of bots. A bot is an autonomous software applica-
tion designed to execute specific tasks, often simulating human behaviour within
social networks. By employing networks of bots, an event-driven persuasion cam-
paign can appear credible by amplifying its message's reach and influence over
vast amounts of genuine users, and capitalise on the message resonance provided
by homophilic network architectures. Evidence shows that within social media,
this type of fabrication can be disseminated faster and more broadly than the
truth in all measured categories of information [238,180]. Moreover, the strategic
deployment of highly realistic synthetic audiovisual information, can further am-
plify both the emotional impact and the epistemic disruption effects of an event-
driven campaign, while still fostering trust. This type of artificially generated
content can simulate real-world events or individuals, amplifying the dramatic
impact of fact-based false-flag operations through doctoring authentic content,
these same techniques can enable the generation of credible. Furthermore, this
synthetic approach can facilitate the generation of photorealistic evidence that
can be crucial for even-driven persuasion based on fabricated events.

In summary, event-driven persuasion campaigns rely on high-intensity epis-
temic and emotional triggers to create pivotal redirection points or accelerants
for broader narratives. Whether fact-based or fiction-based, this paradigm lever-
ages computer-based social networks to enhance reach, precision targeting, and
real-time adaptability. The outcome is an emotionally aroused population that
galvanises together and acts in unison, exacerbating societal polarisation by de-
termining the in-group and out-group divisions.

3.3 Strategic meaning-making

Meaning-making can be outlined as a process inherent to human cognition,
through which individuals make sense of world experience and the self [68,94].
Narratives are structured accounts of events, experiences, and interpretations,
real or imagined, that organise meaning information into coherent sequences that
serve both as storage and communication vehicles [145]. Narratives are inher-
ently shaped by beliefs, values, or biases, binding the individual to the collective
experience [283]. Furthermore, narratives are open and cumulative, shaped by
experience, retaining or replacing elements of meaning to better adapt to imme-
diate conditions [67,167]. Fictional narratives, can provide alternative or even
opposite interpretations over real world events, and the systematic exposure to
these devices can forge enduring cognitive representations [131].

In contrast to event-driven persuasion, strategic meaning-making manipu-
lation relies on sustained narrative persistence, employing both emotional and
logical triggers to reinforce targeted beliefs and shape collective attitudes. The
efficacy of such strategic manipulation hinges on the fabricated narrative's ability
to foster individual and collective identification with a morally virtuous position
within its framework, rendering populations more susceptible to mobilisation
[274]. Often, the narrative also supplies both, a legitimising rationale for the in-
group's actions, and a sharply antagonistic role for the out-group, establishing
a binary opposition. Due to this, fictional narratives implemented in writing,
through oral communication, or via imagery, have been weapons of war for mil-
lenia.

Propaganda is one type of strategic meaning-making manipulation, using a
systematic approach that aims to bias collective beliefs, values, or identities. Pro-
paganda materials are typically composed of a combination of text and image
designed to elicit cohesive emotional responses and provide a logical framework,
within which, a virtuous role or resolutive position is offered to audiences. The
systematic approach in propaganda relies on repetition, consistency, and its inte-
gration into various informational channels, aiming to shift the societal baseline
of beliefs, values, or historical interpretations. A phenomenon known as the *il-
lusory truth effect* suggests that repeated exposure to a narrative can enhance
its perceived credibility, regardless of its veracity [64,101]. Propaganda may be
found either as clearly distinguishable elements, such as explicit advertisements,
or it may be subtly integrated into other forms of communication that individ-
uals approach without critical awareness.

One of the principal avenues for subtle meaning-making manipulation is au-
diovisual mass media, which includes films, series and newscasts. Audiovisual
narratives can offer simulations of the social world via abstraction, simplification, and compression, which facilitates the communication and comprehension of information, achieving a form of learning [162,195]. In contrast to narrative construction via text or still image, audiovisual media can foster in audiences a heightened sense of being a direct witness to a set of events and construct a sense of unfolding reality [191]. This, on the one hand, can increase the likelihood of identification with specific fictional roles. Character identification enables the manipulation of attitudes towards the narrative, reducing the likelihood of critical analysis [66,26,87,257]. In addition, character identification can facilitate the mirroring of emotional responses and potentially elicit similar physiological responses [288,4,176]. On the other hand, audiovisual media allows the observation of cause-and-effect relationships in the actions and behaviours of the characters that build a narrative. Through repeated exposure to particular cause-and-effect relationships within fictional narratives, audiences can undergo a synergistic combination of learning processes.

The effects of priming can be exploited at the narrative level to bias interpretation of key points of a narrative construct, through the activation of a pre-existing network of conceptual or perceptual associations. By leveraging the priming phenomenon, individuals can be compelled to prioritise reliance on pre-existing mental schemata when interpreting a narrative. Schemata are organised clusters of knowledge that facilitate rapid judgements and decisions, drawing upon prior experiences[220]. The reliance on pre-existing schemata to interpret incoming information, particularly in critical narrative points, can lead to the formation of affective attitudes, judgements, and conscious decision-making based on potentially biased or manipulative information [192,122,55].

Furthermore, narrative manipulation can also be supported by methods derived from classical conditioning. The acquisition phase in classical conditioning is based on the systematic co-occurrence of CS and US, to eventually produce the involuntary association of an otherwise neutral stimuli with a physiological or behavioural response. Repeated observation of CS-US pairings in audiovisual media can facilitate observational conditioning, whereby individuals acquire implicit predictive associations between CS and US, that seem informative of the consequences of a specific action [11, 10, 185]. Experimental studies have demonstrated that observational conditioning can induce and extinct fear responses to neutral stimuli [58], as well as change an observer's emotional state [27], and physiological arousal [273] to be consistent with a confederate's apparent reaction to an stimulus. In addition, observational conditioning has been demonstrated in modulation of pain perception, eliciting both placebo analgesia [228,7,31,272], and nocebo hyperalgesia [204,175]. Unlike direct learning, where behavioural change requires repeated individual first-hand experience, observational classical conditioning can enable the dissemination of new behavioural patterns across large populations simultaneously, exposing individuals to scenarios they would not typically encounter [11].

In this context, an engineered audiovisual narrative can constitute a structured sequence of strategically designed stimuli that leverage priming effects,
activating predetermined conceptual and perceptual schemata, thereby system-
atically influencing beliefs and attitudes toward co-occurring information. Fur-
thermore, audiovisual narratives can integrate both observational conditioning
acquisition sequences, where novel stimulus pairings establish fresh associations,
as well as pre-conditioned elements that leverage past conditioning procedures to
automatically trigger targeted responses. At the level of the smallest meaning-
bearing elements in a narrative, CW can implement measures to exploit en-
trenched schemata while constructing new behavioural and affective connections,
achieving a compounded influence on narrative processing and evaluation. So-
sial networks can further increase the reach of narrative manipulation campaigns
based on audiovisual media. The exploitation of curation mechanisms of popular
social networks, can facilitate the repeated exposition to a limited set of audiovi-
sual content choices. In particular the predominance of homophilic architectures
that prioritise connections between users and media contents based on their nar-
rative affinity can actively limit exposure to counter perspectives. This effect can
be further amplified by the networks' prioritisation of content in terms of en-
gagement metrics, which can be artificially inflated, thus consolidating a sense
of certainty around specific narratives irrespective of their truthfulness.

An alternative foundation for narrative manipulation can stem from methods
rooted in instrumental learning, facilitated by interactive audiovisual media. Un-
like classically conditioned responses, which are induced by stimuli that precede
the behaviour, instrumental behaviours are primarily shaped and maintained by
their consequences. Actions followed by rewards tend to be repeated, while those
followed by punishment tend to diminish. Without requiring conscious aware-
ness of the behaviour-outcome contingency, instrumental learning can take place
through taking actions and experiencing outcomes directly, and also indirectly,
through observing the actions taken and outcomes obtained by others [44,271].
An example of observational instrumental learning facilitated by a basic form
of interactive media can be found in social networks. One core characteristic
in current networks is the feature of social feedback, which reflects the popular
sentiment towards a piece of information within the network, and interprets it as
a value (e.g., likes, views). In addition, some of the most popular social networks
are centred on self-performed action content as their core engagement mecha-
nism. This combination can constitute an instrumental reinforcement mecha-
nism, rooted in social reward processing [236,114]. During the acquisition phase,
the network's social feedback architecture supports observational instrumental
learning, where users are incentivised to imitate socially rewarded behaviours,
even those posing personal risks or external harm [244,96,158]. During the re-
sponse phase, individuals actively reproduce and adapt model behaviours to
achieve similar social reinforcement, creating a feedback loop where reward an-
ticipation overrides critical analysis or risk assessment.

A unique environment for narrative manipulation is the context of video
games. In this type of interactive media, a user is not only a witness to the
unfolding of a narrative but is required to take active part in it, fostering an
illusion of non-mediation [157,233]. This can increase the likelihood of identifica-
tion with specific fictional roles, which in turn, can enable favourable attitudes
towards the narrative, reducing the likelihood of critical analysis. This can lead
to individuals pursuing goals aligned with the fictitious narrative framework,
even if they do not align with the real world conditions [12]. Furthermore, in
video games, players enact cause-and-effect mechanisms that make their actions
feel consequential within the game world. This provides the opportunity for de-
ployment of direct instrumental conditioning, wherein users take actions and
experience consequences directly. Players perform in-game actions (e.g., stealing
a car, evading police), and receive both immediate negative reinforcement (e.g.,
losing police pursuit), and immediate positive reinforcement (e.g., game points,
progression), alongside visual and auditory rewards. This implicit learning pro-
cess of cause-and-effect relations can be as effective as traditional methods like
verbal instruction [280,294,291,254]. Through repetition, and without requiring
conscious awareness of contingent relationships, interactive media users can im-
plicitly learn cause-effect associations that, while disconnected from real-world
value, can influence subsequent behaviours [209,286,3]. This deviation between
learning outcomes from fiction and real-world conditions is what the military
training experts have defined as *negative training* [98].

Because of its immersive properties, particularly its potential capacity for
character embodiment, virtual reality media can intensify users’ psychological
entanglement with narratives and identification with fictional roles [242,243,49].
The unique potential of embodiment in virtual reality can enhance narrative
transportation effects, making users more likely to internalise engineered events
as personally relevant, potentially creating a more conforming, favourable atti-
tude towards its logical framework [221]. Furthermore, the combination of im-
mersive and embodiment properties can also provide support for implicit learn-
ing processes such as those underscored by instrumental conditioning [2,50].
Although most virtual reality systems currently rely on less dexterous controller-
based interfaces, direct hand input is becoming increasingly prevalent. Crucially,
regardless of input method, instrumental conditioning can remain equally ap-
plicable [126]. Within virtual worlds, users perform actions and observe their
consequences, shaping their behaviours in relation to rewards. Consequently,
the cause-and-effect mechanisms and the narrative frameworks that together
structure virtual experiences, can find potential migration from fictional experi-
ence into real-world behaviour [32]. In this line, an ideal virtual reality system
could seamlessly integrate users into a landscape of fictional narrative constructs
and cause-and-effect relationships, combining multisensory elements (e.g. sound,
vision, haptics), presented with a high degree of coherence and credibility, intel-
lectually engaging users, and evoking emotional responses in a way that adapts
to individual susceptibilities.

Social networks can amplify the reach and engagement of video games through
curation mechanisms that promote repeated exposure to a limited set of game
choices. By prioritising content aligned with a shared narrative, these systems
actively restrict users’ experiences with counter-narratives. Moreover, the inte-
gration of social networks into gaming platforms, either by hosting games or
embedding social features within games, effectively creates a reinforcement loop connecting in-game behaviours and social reinforcement. The translation of in-game achievements into social rewards (e.g., likes, shares) constitutes a form of instrumental conditioning, where players learn to associate specific behaviours with social validation [95,8]. The combination of social rewards that reinforce instrumental learning outcomes, can enhance narrative acceptance and role identification while increasing the likelihood of these in-game behavioural patterns being generalised to real-world contexts.

## 3.4 Memory manipulation

The reliability of memory has been a longstanding topic of interest for military applications of brain and behavioural science, and its relevance persists in the context of CW. The capacity of the memory systems to flexibly recombine information from multiple sensory modalities is fundamental to allow survival for an organism in a changing environment and anticipate future events [227,250]. But at the same time, this constructive nature renders memory processes vulnerable for deliberate manipulation [290,153].

Memory is often conceptualised as a multi-staged process that includes encoding, consolidation, retrieval, and forgetting [56]. The retrieval of a memory allows for new consolidation process to take place, and is termed reconsolidation. During the initial post-learning consolidation window, the information remains active as the neural substrate of the encoded event becomes stabilised. Past research has characterised this as time-dependent process required to progressively fix the memory in period roughly between 30 minutes and 2 hours [170]. However, other research has suggested that the time window overlaps with the time of training itself [81,82]. Experimental manipulations conducted within this period can lead to the incorporation of false details, altering the memory's content. Once a memory has been consolidated, it may enter a second modifiable state during reconsolidation. This occurs when a stored memory is retrieved, rendering it temporarily unstable before being restabilised. Interventions administered during this reconsolidation window can either strengthen, weaken, or distort the retrieved memory [117]. To increase the probability of the onset of the destabilisation and reconsolidation sequence, past studies have successfully implemented the use of a reminder. A reminder procedure involves the presentation of a stimulus that shares some association with the original experience (e.g., perceptual, contextual, semantic, emotional) and is used to trigger retrieval. To promote memory destabilisation and subsequent reconsolidation, the reminder should hold a degree of mismatch between what has been learned and what is presented during reactivation [70,229]. Evidence from past research indicates that these two windows, consolidation and reconsolidation, can be exploited for the potential introduction of misleading post-event information. The misinformation effect refers to the impairment in memory for the past that arises after exposure to misleading information [197,154]. Past research has successfully achieved misinformation effects using suggestive techniques based on verbal material, documented photographs or motion pictures, combined with social pressure techniques,
or guided imagination procedures [151,146]. Social pressure techniques in the absence of alternative points of reference, can be critical for generating confidence on the implanted information, leading individuals to have remarkably consistent false memories of an event, and consequently develop a set of deeply rooted beliefs [231,123,33]. Some studies have demonstrated the misinformation effect using a strong form of suggestion based on the collaboration of family members to introduce a false narrative [148]. Using these techniques, studies have demonstrated the implantation of memories for simulated events that were witnessed (e.g. a filmed accident), and also for events that actually took place [193]. Some techniques have been successfully employed for implanting rich false memories for entirely fabricated complex events, using a combination of doc-tored photographs materials, verbal suggestion and family member's pressure [150,152,109,206,102]. Although past research has suggested that recollections are more likely to change if a person does not immediately detect discrepancies between misinformation and memory for the original event [263,156], other studies have demonstrated that under certain conditions, it is indeed possible to plant memories of implausible or impossible events [23,24,172].

High arousal negative valence emotional states (e.g., fear) at encoding have a trade-off effect, rendering the central aspects of a negative event less vulnerable to misinformation, but at the same time increasing the susceptibility to misinformation on neutral peripheral information [171,107,235]. Following a traumatic experience, while memory for the central aversive information is enhanced, the retrieval of the emotional responses at the time of the event may be compromised [136]. Traumatic experiences are often followed by intrusive involuntary recollections, which indeed multiply the windows of reactivation of the memory trace, and thus increase the likelihood of misinformation success [249,106]. Emotional arousal during the initial memory consolidation, regardless of emotional content of the encoding experience, increases misinformation vulnerability on peripheral and context information [277,278]. In contrast to emotion at encoding and during initial consolidation, negative valence arousal states (e.g., stress, fear) experienced during recollection of prior events can produce memory impairment, regardless of emotionality of the original experience [132,133]. In addition, during reconsolidation the original memory can become permeable to acquire the emotional state elicited during recollection [14].

Moreover, manipulation of memory has been experimentally successful at the level of the group of individuals affecting how collectives interpret shared experiences [255,115,166]. Based on group dynamics of retrieval and suggestion, this research highlights a resonant effect when individuals assume the memories from other individuals as a point of reference, further potentiating their belief in the false or distorted memory of an event [270,226,1]. Consequently, shared false memories can significantly alter group and societal interpretation of real world events. Computer-based social networks can be unique environments for memory manipulation techniques. Social networks can be used for systematic and widespread dissemination of suggestive and doctored information. This can both target the consolidation window after the experience of an event, or de-
liberately trigger the reactivation of the memory trace and capitalise on the
reconsolidation window for the misinformation effect. Furthermore, social net-
works enable the creation of potent social pressure, that can be concentrated
over both the consolidation and reconsolidation phases. As prior research has
demonstrated, when individuals perceive that a memory of an event is widely
held by their social peers, they are more likely to adopt it, even if it initially
contradicts their own recollection [88,85]. The application of this type of pres-
sure targeting the consolidation or reconsolidation phases when the memory is
active, combined with a desire to avoid ostracism, can compel individuals to
align their recollection with what appears to be the prevailing view. In social
networks, social pressure can be orchestrated via the coordinated action of bots.
Bot networks can simulate consensus through coordinated repetition and arti-
ficially inflated engagement metrics. By exploiting the curation algorithms of
social networks, engineered memory suggestions and reappraisals can be admin-
istered in a timely manner to large numbers of users. When combined, these
mechanisms can facilitate the formation of high-confidence, false or manipulated
memories.

Prior research has identified psychological and cognitive factors that can
moderate susceptibility to the misinformation effect on memory. Among per-
sonality traits, high empathy and absorption appear to be associated with an
increased vulnerability to false memory implantation. Similarly, self-monitoring
has been suggested as a predictor of misinformation susceptibility, likely to pri-
oritise memory consensus over own memory [52]. At the cognitive level, reduced
logical reasoning skills can render individuals more vulnerable for false memory
implantation. Similarly, individuals with reduced perceptual abilities or compro-
mised memory function can be more susceptible to the misinformation effect,
likely due to lack of confidence in the accuracy of recollection [22].

3.5 Cognitive erosion

Cognitive erosion describes the gradual deterioration of analytical capacities and reasoning abilities, arising from prolonged exposure to impoverished information environments. Unlike transient manipulations (e.g., cognitive overload), this process reflects a systematic shift in neural prioritisation, where the pathways that engage in information analysis and support logical reasoning, lose weight relative to heuristic processing pathways [203,92,184,71]. Over time, this functional reorganisation of neural resources entrenches a limited collection of schema-driven interpretations, while capacity for adaptive analysis and reasoning ability become reduced.

Information fragmentation constitutes a primary mechanism of cognitive ero-
sion. The conditions for fragmentation can be met by discontinuous, rapidly
shifting information streams, made up from brief, discrete information units.
A fragmented information environment entails a variety of information streams
(e.g., feeds, notifications, pop-ups, messaging) that compete for individuals’ at-
tention [215]. The attention span of an individual is the length of time that she
spends concentrating on an activity. Whereas long attention spans allow people
to concentrate resources for analysis of complex information, scattered short at-
tention spans foster cursory reading and superficial analysis [225]. The switch
between information streams has been associated with an increase in arousal
that acts as a reinforcer promoting shorter attention spans [289].

The effects of fragmentation have been associated with decrease in work-
ing memory, and reduced volume for the brain areas involved in this function
[265,161,266]. Decreasing reliance on mental analytical operations and problem-
solving can lead to a reduced demand placed on the neural substrates support-
ing working memory function. These substrates can consequently exhibit altered
connectivity, adapting to the lower demands [149]. As fragmented information
environments habituate individuals to scattered attention and shallow analy-
sis, neural resources become preferentially allocated to processing disjointed in-
formation fragments, deprioritising sustained logical sequences and integrative
associative networks. Over time, this adaptive reallocation consolidates into en-
during neurocognitive architectures. Critically, rather than engaging in adaptive
analysis, individuals with diminished attention, analytical and working mem-
ory capabilities can default to simple pre-determined conceptual frameworks, or
schemata, to interpret new information. The increasing reliance on schemata is
a constitutive element of a self-reinforcing cycle, in which diminished attention
and analytical capacity depends on less mentally taxing, simple frameworks to
interpret incoming information.

In parallel, sustained exposure to linguistically impoverished environments
can result in the hardening of linguistic boundaries into conceptual boundaries,
thereby systematically constraining the analytical and reasoning frameworks
available for interpreting complex information [137]. Functions like planning,
problem-solving, and reasoning can be significantly impacted by the constraints
of an individual's linguistic abilities [19,108]. The lack of an adequate vocabu-
lary limits the capacity of individuals for discrimination, for instance conflating
distinct complex phenomena under reductive labels. Moreover, a constrained vo-
cabulary is associated with an individual's syntactic complexity capacity, both in
comprehension and production. The decrease in comprehension and production
of syntactic complexity, the grammatical sophistication in language [118], can
impact decision-making skills, favouring less elaborate cognitive processing of
information, and less detailed reasoning [279,37]. Syntactic complexity capacity
has been associated with higher working memory capacity, which in turn aids in
the resolution of ambiguities during decision-making [128].

The combined effects of information fragmentation and linguistic impoverish-
ment can be amplified by computer-based social networks. The architecture of
social networks often privileges rapid engagement with scattered, discrete pieces
of information, mainly visual and symbolic. The infinite scroll feature, in com-
bination with real-time notification systems, can habituate users to increased
attentional switching, degrading capacity for sustained analysis. Features such
as the tagging of contents, and the use of autocompletion in text input, expose
individuals to a linguistically limited environment with cues for pre-determined
interpretation of information. The enforcement of text brevity in social networks
further contributes to linguistic depletion, through a combination of effects. This
feature can entrench high-frequency, low-precision vocabulary, as well as pre-
vent the formation of multi-propositional arguments. In addition, this feature
can foster interpretation of new information through recycled schemata, which
disfavours adaptive analysis and severs the potential generation of novel associ-
ations.

Cognitive erosion is compounded by contemporary sociocultural tendencies toward the infantilisation of adult populations [47]. Psychosocial research defines infantilisation as the persistence and reinforcement of childlike behavioural patterns and emotional frameworks in adulthood, arising from intersecting familial, psychobiological, and socioeconomic conditions [178]. Infantilisation holds characteristics that can be favourable for cognitive erosion processes in CW. One hallmark is the prioritisation of present desires, where impulsive drives supersede rational choices [214]. This inclination systematically reduces engagement with cognitively taxing tasks that require sustained attention, effortful analysis or problem-solving. Consequently, this contributes to the gradual deterioration of the neurocognitive mechanisms supporting analytical capacity and reasoning abilities. The impulsivity fostered by infantilisation likely interacts with fragmented information environments. Another characteristic of infantilisation is a marked decline in the pursuit of self-determination and role distinction [15]. This includes the dilation of childhood behaviours into adulthood, exemplified by the preservation of childlike linguistic and logical repertoires, which yield diminished analysis capabilities and reasoning abilities [83]. It also includes an inclination to systematically take refuge in the dimension of play, which contributes to a reduced engagement with complex, real-world challenges. Further, infantilisation is also characterised by a tendency to embrace transient trends, while rejecting stable practices, beliefs and values. This can create a permanent vacuum that is favourable for the uncritical adoption of externally sourced models. The erosion of infantilisation processes can yield cognitively diminished individuals that are less resistant to manipulation. By cultivating impulsivity, a limited capacity for self-determination and a heightened receptivity to externally sourced directions, individuals can be influenced by persuasive constructs and narratives, that offer immediate gratification and align with diminished cognitive capabilities.

4 Discussion

The scientific and technological developments that have brought immense ben-
efits to human societies in the last century, particularly in health and commu-
nication, can also be used to manipulate how entire populations spontaneously
interpret reality. CW combines the military fields of psychological operations,
and information technologies to achieve strategic cognitive dominance over an
enemy [42]. The foundation of CW relies heavily on knowledge from science
of brain and behaviour, applied at-scale through network computing technolo-
gies. This article reviews the methods of CW from a neurocognitive perspective
alongside their interactions with computer-based networks.
Information environments can be engineered to present stimuli outside con-
scious awareness and cognitive control processes, enabling the leveraging of cog-
nitive effects. Through perceptual and cognitive load manipulation, entrainment
phenomena, automatic responses to high-intensity stimuli, and implicit memory
processes including subliminal priming and conditioning, such environments may
direct attention, modulate memorability, or manipulate acceptance of subsequent
information. These capacities prove instrumental for inconspicuous deployment
of CW elements, drawing both naive and critically resistant individuals into the
manipulation framework.

Event-driven persuasion employing high-intensity epistemic and emotional
triggers can be leveraged to produce transient effects of individual mobilisation,
with the purpose of accelerating or redirecting broader narratives. This capacity
becomes operationally significant in CW by establishing the velocity and direc-
tion of narrative deployment within a contested theatre of operations. Under
conditions of fear and stress, individuals are prompted to identify with and con-
form to emerging polarised groupings. This internal alignment then galvanises
them, culminating in the visibly distinct crystallisation of these collectives at
the narrative level. Such polarisation then creates fertile ground for subsequent
interventions, achieved by deepening divisions, affirming in-group logical frame-
works, and normalising exceptional measures.

Narratives emerge as products of implicit meaning-making processes, and
their systematic control constitutes a fundamental requirement for CW. The
strategic success of CW does not hinge on merely storming into the theatre of
mental operations, but in securing and cultivating it for lasting influence. The
efficacy of narratives manipulation is supported by fostering individual identifi-
cation with morally legitimised in-group positions while establishing sharply an-
tagonistic out-group roles, creating self-reinforcing binary oppositions. Through
explicit propaganda campaigns or subtle narrative manipulation in audiovisual
and interactive media, users experience a synergistic convergence implicit learn-
ing mechanisms, fictional character identification, and narrative adoption pro-
cesses. This convergence can produce favourable attitudinal alignment with the
presented narratives while simultaneously diminishing capacities for critical anal-
ysis.

Due to its inherent malleability, memory remains vulnerable to deliberate
manipulation at multiple processing stages. Following initial event encoding,
memory can be modified through exposure to misleading post-event informa-
tion, combining suggestive retrieval techniques and applied social pressure. The
manipulation of memory proves operationally critical for CW, by facilitating the
induction of self-motivated behaviours and beliefs, and making individuals pre-
dictable over extended time periods. In particular, memory manipulation engages
in retroactive narrative engineering that can selectively reorganise past event rep-
resentations. Such retroactive manipulation can legitimise past in-group actions,
reinforce current in-group cohesion through shared narrative maintenance, and
establishing morally virtuous in-group positioning to justify both current and
future behaviours.
Given the inherent variability in cognitive capacities across populations, CW
can employ systematic cognitive erosion to produce standardised responses. This
can be achieved through information fragmentation that fosters shallow process-
ing, linguistic impoverishment that limits conceptual articulation in analytical
and reasoning processes, and infantilisation processes that promote impulsive,
schema-driven responses, while diminishing adaptive reasoning capacity. Col-
lectively, these measures can increase population compliance by simultaneously
reducing the individual resistance to manipulation, and undermining the viabil-
ity, and the desirability of organised counter-movements.

The combined application of engineered information environments, persuasion, narrative direction, memory manipulation and cognitive erosion, has far-reaching implications, and in this sense, CW represents a significant ethical challenge. Firstly, CW should prompt a broader and urgent discussion about the social responsibility of scientists, particularly regarding the potential misuse of their work for hostile or war-like purposes. Scientific research, especially in fields like neural and cognitive science, computer networks and artificial intelligence, should hold the intent of improving well-being, health, and societal harmony. The weaponisation of this knowledge and practical expertise, aimed to undermine autonomy, agency, and overall cognitive health of the societies that often nurtured these scientific endeavours, completely subverts the ultimate purpose of scientific research.

Secondly, the techniques implemented in CW, while grounded in advances in
neural and cognitive sciences, are indeed derived from still incomplete mecha-
nistic explanations of cognition and behaviour, in which the complex interplay
between different perceptual and cognitive processes, emotional responses, and
environmental factors is far from being fully understood. Given this gap in un-
derstanding, the application of such techniques within the CW framework should
be considered largely experimental in nature. This implies that while certain ma-
nipulative strategies may show effectiveness, their broader implications are still
unknown. Cognitive and neural systems are highly dynamic and adaptive, with
multiple interdependent processes that may not behave predictably. This exper-
imental status of CW techniques raises significant ethical concerns, in particular
in light of the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki [287], the Belmont
guidelines [190], and the Nuremberg Code [182], which deem essential the vol-
untary consent of the human subjects. In this sense, the use of science of brain
and behaviour in CW should not only raise the issue of social responsibility of
the scientist regarding the use of her work for war-like actions. But also raise the
ethical issue of scientific experimentation performed without the awareness and
the consent of subjects. Moreover, the veil of secrecy and compartmentalisation
surrounding these CW paradigms results in a lack of comprehensive scientific
knowledge which decreases the likelihood of refining CW paradigms, leading to
outcomes that may deviate from those anticipated.

These issues however, have hardly been addressed in scientific literature. The
indiscriminate use of psycho social and psycho physiological methods reviewed
in this article suggests that any practically effective scientific knowledge avail-
able, however brute or incomplete, will be employed against any population of
interest, for the time deemed necessary, irrespective of the ethical implications.
Adhering to the strictest logic, if the primary objective of CW is to maximise net
profits at the expense of a target population, it seems reasonable to speculate
a not so far future in which machines with cognitive capabilities of their own
could define and execute both strategic and tactical aspects of CW, and tailor
the treatments administered to masses of individuals. Implemented using vast
data collection and injection networks, this stage of CW would entrust intel-
ligent systems most logical and executive competences, becoming the ultimate
CW decision-makers in order to achieve maximum profits. Responsible for the
adaptive and sustainable management of many levels of psycho physiological op-
erations, from the neural to the social, CW managed by intelligent autonomous
machines could outperform and outlive any human.

Moving forward, it seems essential to call for an assessment of the ethical
dimensions of CW by the scientific community. Even at the expense of losing
funding and testing opportunities, the interrelationships between the sciences
of brain and behaviour and the military have had observable consequences of
worldwide significance and demand re-evaluation. As societies become more re-
liant on computer-based social networks, the potential grounds for CW will only
increase. Ensuring that scientific knowledge is used responsibly and with respect
for human dignity will be a crucial task for future policymakers, researchers, and
technologists.

# 5 Additional information

## 5.1 Competing interests

The author declares no financial, commercial or financial relationships that could
be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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