NAPOT Open-Data Component Gate

This concise research-program update interprets a previously executed open-data test of one proposed NAPOT component. An unmasked receiver-relative timing, amplitude, duration, and spatial-direction feature set failed to improve short-horizon visual-cortex prediction beyond a capacity-matched raw-signal model in all 14 analyzed development sessions. The paper fits no new model, analyzes no new dataset, preserves the adverse result, discloses the parent-protocol phase-quality-mask discrepancy, distinguishes within-model control sensitivity from support for the larger theory, and defines the redesign and holdout rules required for the next test. Its conclusions are limited to the assumptions, evidence, and testing conditions stated in the manuscript. It belongs to the Self-Aware Networks neuroscience and consciousness research program. This is a corrected preprint edition released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.