Cognitive warfare has emerged as a central feature of modern conflict, yet it remains inconsistently defined and difficult to evaluate. Existing approaches often treat cognitive operations as a subset of information operations, limiting the ability to assess cognitive attacker-defender interactions or determine when advantage has been achieved. This article proposes a unified definition of cognitive warfare, introduces an interaction framework grounded in the OODA loop, and identifies measurable attributes associated with cognitive superiority. To illustrate the use of the framework, a notional case study demonstrates how these concepts can be applied to assess cognitive attacks and defenses in a contested environment. Thus, the framework provides joint force leaders and analysts with a practical foundation for understanding, comparing, and evaluating cognitive warfare campaigns.

翻译：认知战已成为现代冲突的核心特征，但其定义仍不一致且难以评估。现有方法通常将认知作战视为信息作战的子集，这限制了对认知攻防交互的评估能力，也难以判断何时取得优势。本文提出了认知战的统一定义，引入基于OODA循环的交互框架，并识别了与认知优势相关的可度量属性。为阐明该框架的应用，一个概念性案例研究展示了如何在对抗环境中运用这些概念评估认知攻击与防御。该框架为联合部队指挥者与分析人员提供了理解、比较和评估认知战行动实践基础。