`[2026-07-03]` **The "neutral non-appraising tail" premise fails — the neutral MESSAGE choice dominates.** The R30 φ0 method assumed neutral turns don't re-appraise, but factual-question neutrals ("capital of France?") trigger a new emotion nearly every turn (disappointment from the warmth-withdrawal let-down after a positive impulse) → `emotions_active` never empties in 50 turns. A minimal "Please continue." triggers FAR fewer (emotions clear ~turn 16 with spacing). The personal dry-run caught this BEFORE ~280 demo turns were spent on it — the instrument catching a flaw in the measurement design before the compute burn. (Irrelevant to the joint fit — the push_t covariate handles re-appraisal — but load-bearing for the empty-tail read.)
