Yeah, they do this in Krav and Jitsu too, but it's not what I'm talking about. These techniques are about spotting the initiator as early as possible, then you're startled into re-action.

The article suggests that actions where you're primed to act and then startled into action are faster than ones where you act of your own volition.

So, could you (for example) condition yourself into being startled by say a raised eyebrow, at which point you would be able to carry out a pre-planned attack with the same speed as a reaction.