Response to comment on ‘Criterion placement threatens the construct validity of neural measures of consciousness’

eLife, vol. 14

Abstract

In Fahrenfort et al., 2025 we show the influence of non-perceptual criterion shifts on neural measures of consciousness. We fully agree (and point out in our article) that it was already known that subjective measures are sensitive to criterion confounds, and we are happy to read that this is acknowledged by Sandberg and Overgaard in their comment (Sandberg and Overgaard, 2025). However, we contest that the main findings of our simulations and empirical studies had already been demonstrated. Several findings from our studies are novel, such as the fact that criterion effects reveal themselves as over- (or under-) estimations of both conscious and unconscious processing in tandem, and that this has tangible implications when analyzing real neural data. We also challenge the suggestion that our experimental manipulations are (too) radical compared to signal-to-noise variations that occur naturally between experiments.

Authors 5

1. Johannes J. Fahrenfort

   Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam · University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam

   Department of Applied and Experimental Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

   Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam

   Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam (iBBA), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

2. Philippa Anne Johnson Aachen Cognitive Psychology Unit Institute of Psychology and Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology and Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University

3. Niels A Kloosterman

   University of Lübeck

   Affiliation as printed

   Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism, University of Lübeck

   Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck

4. Timo Stein

   University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam

   Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam

5. Simon van Gaal

   University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam

   Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam