Subsequent to Geissler's response to my comments, I contacted Carol Fowler of Psychological Review in April 1999, to tell her that I had been in correspondance with one of the reviewers, who had since acknowledged that the paper had some merit, and whether under these circumstances I should continue to pursue publication with Psychological Review or whether I should seek publication elsewhere. Carol Fowler replied:
Dear Dr. Lehar,
Thank you for your letter regarding your manuscript 99-082, which I rejected for publication in Psychological Review. Mistakes are sometimes made in the review process, and perhaps one was here. However, I cannot take on the job of attempting to determine that now, because I am at the tail end of my time as "outgoing" associate editor. I cannot solicit any submissions that would require my sending the manuscript out for review. If you wish to have the manuscript reconsidered for publication in Psychological Review, you should send it or a revision of it to Walter Mischel, who has been the editor since January. You can, of course, send the original reviews and my action letter if you judge that it will help him decide how to handle the resubmission.
Under the circumstances I decided to rewrite the paper but to submit it this time to Behavioral and Brain Sciences, because I believe that really radically new ideas are best presented in a journal that allows open peer review, so that my struggles with the reviewers become a matter of public record