LLM Simulation as Affective Lesion: Decomposing Cognitive-Discursive and Motivational Layers in Group Regulation Through Simulation–Human Triangulation

LLM Simulation as Affective Lesion: Decomposing Cognitive-Discursive and Motivational Layers in Group Regulation Through Simulation–Human Triangulation

Gotsdanker A.S. (ISP RAS, Moscow, Russia)

Abstract

We introduce a demarcation-oriented framework for LLM multi-agent simulation: rather than asking whether LLM agents can replace human participants, we ask what group-level processes they reproduce and what they systematically omit. We report 480 five-agent deliberation sessions in a 2×2×2×2 factorial design crossing perceived environmental uncertainty, group need for cognitive closure, group temporal orientation, and subject-matter involvement (SMI). The simulation selectively reproduced cognitive-discursive dynamics while producing zero affective destabilization across all 480 sessions. SMI showed an inverted effect – accelerating rather than impeding convergence – consistent with the distinction between outcome-relevant and value-relevant involvement. Triangulation with a human survey (N=271, K=50 work groups) confirmed that only the defensive component (SMI_def) predicts destabilization (r=.623, β=.724), while the cognitive component (SMI_rel) does not (r=.133, n.s.). Cross-architecture verification on ChatGPT 5.2 (40 sessions, identical prompts) replicated all three boundary conditions and additionally dissociated convergence from closure, empirically separating the seizing and freezing components of closure urgency. We propose that systematic patterns of reproduction and omission function as an "affective lesion," converting known LLM limitations into diagnostic instruments for decomposing group-level psychological constructs.

Keywords

LLM simulation; multi-agent systems; group decision-making; construct decomposition; involvement types; affective lesion; triangulation; discursive regulation; seizing–freezing decomposition.

Edition

Proceedings of the Institute for System Programming, vol. 38, issue 6, part 1, 2026, pp. 139-160

ISSN 2220-6426 (Online), ISSN 2079-8156 (Print).

DOI: 10.15514/ISPRAS-2026-38(6)-9

For citation

Gotsdanker A.S. LLM Simulation as Affective Lesion: Decomposing Cognitive-Discursive and Motivational Layers in Group Regulation Through Simulation–Human Triangulation. Proceedings of the Institute for System Programming, vol. 38, issue 6, part 1, 2026, pp. 139-160 DOI: 10.15514/ISPRAS-2026-38(6)-9.

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