If you fall for it once, it’s no big deal, you’ve just been mixed up.
If you fall for it multiple times (possibly in a row) you’re playing ‘wrong’ or ‘on autopilot’
now, as an example specifically for the OP (please dont take any offense):
you got knocked down and your opponent neutral jumped on you wakeup.
Instead of making a mental note like
"On knockdown he did neutral jump, look out for that"
You took no note at all and took it as a random, seperate incident. When he did it again you got surprised because of that, you didnt think of it as a pattern but as isolated events, “mixups”.
Most of us (people that fall for ‘dumb’ stuff repeatedly, and Im no stranger to that either) play on autopilot.
Do you know these “connect the dots” pictures? We’re trying to ‘read’ our opponent just by looking at each seperate dot and trying to figure out what the big picture is, how’s that going to work? We got to connect the dots first. But how do we do that?
Well we have to ‘think more’ obviously.
What does the opponent do on his wakeup, what on yours? Is there a pattern? If your character has a fireball or long reaching normals, how long does it take for your opponent to get frustrated until he jumps? Take a note and recreate that situation to be prepared and deal more damage.
I hear a lot of people talking about “conditioning” your opponent, but most of the time it’s all about “stopping them to do xyz”, be it wakeup/reset uppercuts, constant jabbing, wakeup throws, etc.
I say let them do that shit, FORCE them to di that shit because then you know whats coming. If you make them stop from bullshit x, they probably come up with y which is just as bad. Rather let them stick with x and take advantage of the fact that you’re playing your opponent.