Before Commitment: Pre-error Admissible-Space Narrowing and Scaffold-Sensitive Stabilization in LLM Outputs

This record contains a working paper and supplementary pilot materials on pre-error admissible-space narrowing and scaffold-sensitive stabilization in large language model outputs.

The paper examines whether iterative operational framing can narrow the admissible response space of an LLM before any explicit error, contradiction, or correction signal appears. It also examines whether explicit non-action scaffolding can stabilize the response space by keeping refusal, delay, escalation, or continued analysis structurally available.

The empirical materials include small pilot experiments comparing balanced-control and progressive-narrowing prompt trajectories, as well as an admin/compliance scaffold-sensitivity experiment. In the admin_scaffold_sensitivity_v1 pilot, scaffolded conditions produced 0/20 action-dominant outputs, while unscaffolded conditions produced 6/20 action-dominant outputs. This suggests that the absence of explicit non-action scaffolding may be an important factor in allowing action-dominant trajectories to emerge.

The central claim is narrow and exploratory: operational framing may narrow the admissible response space before explicit error or correction, while explicit non-action scaffolding may help stabilize that space. The paper does not claim full binding, real-world execution, universal model behavior, or a prevalence estimate.

This work is part of a broader research line on metacontext-induced decision-boundary shifts, functional response classes, commitment-capable outputs, contradiction repair, and epistemic residue in LLM behavior.