My 2 cents worth
The reason for neutral between 1st and second was to prevent you going into to neutral accidentley when changing down through the box. It is safer to be in 1st rather than neutral in an emergency situation slowing down.
Racers reverse the pattern allowing then to change gear faster when accelerating out of corners, no need to hook your foot under the pedal just tap it when banked over.
The use of of neutral at the bottom was stopped for safety reasons in the 70s because it was causing accidents and was placed between 1 and 2 which made it inconvenient and standardised in 1975 for safety reasons in the US and the rest of the world followed suit.
Apparently riders were coasting fast in neutral up to lights then when the lights changed they would shift up to 1st and lock the back wheel or damage the engine which also locked the back wheel, this in turn caused a large number of accidents.
I think the up for higher gear and down for lower gear seems more logical, slow down change down, speed up change up