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Abstract:
Two previous experiments have been reported that tried to
explore physiological indicators of "precognitive information" in
which subjects respond prior to presented stimuli. In an elegant
experiment in the early seventies, John Hartwell, then at Utrecht
University, measured the Contingent Negative Variation (CNV)
after a warning signal and before a random selected picture of a
face was to be displayed (Hartwell 1978). The CNV is a brain
potential that has been associated with anticipatory processes;
more precisely the CNV is interpreted as a "readiness for
response" preparation. The subjects in Hartwell's studies were
asked to respond with one of two buttons depending on the gender
of the face on the picture. The warning stimulus was sometimes
informative, that is, the subject could infer from the warning
stimulus what the gender type of the face on the picture would
be. In those trials a mean CNV was observed that clearly differed
for the two stimuli categories. In the other case the warning
stimulus was uninformative but it was hoped that the CNV still
would indicate what type of picture was about to be shown. Such a
finding would suggest that in some way or another the subject had
nonconscious knowledge of the nearby future.
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