Mossbridge, J., Tressoldi, P., Utts, J., Ives, J. A., Radin, D., & Jonas, W. B. (2015). We did see this coming: Response to, We should have seen this coming, by D. Sam Schwarzkopf. arXiv:1501.03179.
Introduction
We appreciate the effort by Schwarzkopf to examine alternative explanations for predictive anticipatory activity (PAA) or presentiment (for first response, see: Schwarzkopf 2014a; for additional response, see: Schwarzkopf 2014b, for original article, see: Mossbridge et al. 2014). These commentaries are a laudable effort to promote collegial discussion of the controversial claim of presentiment, whereby physiological measures preceding unpredictable emotional events differ from physiological measures preceding calm or neutral events (Mossbridge et al., 2012; Mossbridge et al., 2014). What is called truth at any given time in science has achieved that status through a continuous process of measurement and interpretation based on the current knowledge at hand. Here we address six points in his original commentary (Schwarzkopf 2014a), though our responses are informed by the points he made in his his supplementary commentary (Schwarzkopf 2014b). We hope our responses will help Schwarzkopf and others understand our interpretation of these data.
