From Empty Graph to Emergent Language: Ontogenesis of Cognitive Architecture

A biologically-grounded cognitive architecture—the Biomemetic Complex (BMC)—starting from an empty graph develops cognition, communication, and cultural accumulation through domain-general mechanisms. Each agent integrates genetic drives, a memetic network with working-memory bottleneck, fractal filtration, and embodied sensory substrate. We demonstrate: (1) ontogenesis from tabula rasa through four cognitive phases; (2) emergent language without gradient-based communication optimization—85–97% Lewis signaling game accuracy (8.5–9.7× chance) across 25–533 concepts, validated on three embedding spaces; (3) vertical cultural transfer dominance over horizontal signal in open-ended environments; (4) cultural ratchet improving language quality across 20 generations; (5) survival neutrality yielding a Language Emergence Threshold. Sensitivity analysis (90 runs across 15 parameter configurations) confirms robustness. To our knowledge, this is the first system without gradient-based communication optimization demonstrating the full ontogenetic trajectory in a single unified architecture.