Authority-Level Priors: An Under-Specified Constraint in Hierarchical Predictive Processing

This paper proposes Authority-Level Priors (ALPs) to explain why people can consciously change their beliefs but still experience the same stress responses and autonomic reactions. The framework adds a governance layer to predictive processing that determines which beliefs are allowed to control automatic stress responses, separate from how much influence those beliefs have. The theory predicts testable changes in stress dynamics and recovery when this governance level shifts, offering a bridge between conscious thought and automatic nervous system responses.