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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

Sec. Cognitive Neuroscience

Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1690746

Revisiting the Model Human Processor: A Neurophysiological Investigation Based on P300 and Bereitschaftspotential

Provisionally accepted
  • Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Osaka, Suita, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

The Model Human Processor (MHP), while useful, lacks direct neurophysiological validation. This study aimed to validate and extend the MHP by analyzing P300 and Bereitschaftspotential (BP) brainwave components. Our initial finding of qualitatively different neural signatures between correct and incorrect trials led to the hypothesis that the "correct" trial group is a mixture of different processing types. We tested this by segregating correct trials based on the presence or absence of the P300 component, which we reasoned is a key marker of the MHP"s conscious "initiate response" process. We identified a P300-absent subgroup even among correct responses. This subgroup exhibited significantly shorter reaction times than its P300-present counterpart and showed a neural signature strikingly similar to that of incorrect trials, including a delayed negative peak in the BP. These results suggest the human information processing pathway is not monolithic. We propose a new model that bifurcates after perception into either a "Deliberate process" (P300-present), which aligns with the MHP, or a high-speed "Automatic process" (P300-absent) that bypasses the MHP"s "initiate response" process. This work provides neurophysiological validation for the MHP and lends new neural support for dual-process theory.

Keywords: Model Human Processor, P300, Bereitschaftspotential, dual-process theory, Reaction Time, EEG

Received: 22 Aug 2025; Accepted: 10 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Higashino and Wakamiya. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Toshitaka Higashino, toshitaka-higashino@ist.osaka-u.ac.jp

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