The OPT Cognitive Pathway Model: A Structural Framework for Signal-Based Cognition and an Initial Empirical Exploration

Understanding how cognitive processes transform information into interpretations, decisions, and actions remains a central problem in cognitive science. While many existing models describe cognition in terms of traits, functions, or representational structures, fewer frameworks explicitly model the structural pathways through which cognitive signals propagate during reasoning. This paper introduces the Ontology–Process–Trajectory (OPT) model, a pathway-based framework that conceptualizes cognition as a dynamic system connecting signal-generating sources and stabilization mechanisms. Within this framework, cognitive activity emerges from the propagation of signals between two functional layers: generative sources that produce cognitive signals and stabilization sinks that resolve these signals into coherent interpretations, judgments, or actions. The model identifies four source processes—internal abstraction, external abstraction, internal representation, and external representation—and four stabilization mechanisms corresponding to internal construction, external construction, internal recognition, and external recognition. Reasoning processes are represented as pathways linking a source mechanism to a stabilization mechanism. Different pathway configurations therefore correspond to different modes of cognitive processing and behavioural stabilization. To explore the empirical feasibility of this framework, a pilot questionnaire was developed to estimate pathway activation tendencies across individuals. Data from forty-five participants were analysed to compare two layers of pathway organization: operating pathways, which describe behavioural stabilization during task execution, and valuing pathways, which describe evaluative stabilization during value judgments. Preliminary results reveal systematic differences between these two layers. Operating responses were more frequently associated with external construction pathways, whereas valuing responses showed stronger associations with internal construction mechanisms. These findings suggest that cognitive variability may be better described as differences in pathway activation patterns rather than differences in static cognitive traits. Overall, the results provide an initial methodological demonstration that pathway-based cognitive structures can be operationalized using structured ranking tasks. The OPT framework therefore offers a new perspective for modelling how cognitive signals are routed and stabilized during reasoning.