5,520 research outputs found
Inherent Grapheme-colour preferences within the non-synaesthetic population
No full textThis paper is primarily concerned with one variation of synaesthesia; graphemecolour
synaesthesia. In which the presentation, or concept, of graphemes elicits a
coloured sensation. Similarities exist between synaesthetes’ and non-synaesthetes’
letter-colour associations, which has led to suggestions that synaesthesia may be an
extension of normal perception (Simner et al., 2005). Non-synaesthetes were found
not to use the frequency heuristic used by grapheme-colour synaesthetes (Simner et
al., 2005). However, we re-tested this using a Stroop methodology. The findings
here support those made originally, but we further claims regarding synaesthesia
being an exaggeration of normal perception. The remainder of the study uses a mix of
Stroop and SNARC (the Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes)
methodologies to assess the direction of the shading pattern of non-synaesthetes
mental representation for the alphabet and also the shading pattern of mental-space in
general. We were able to support the hypothesis that the alphabet may be shaded
from light to dark from A to Z (Julia Simner, personal communication), but were
unable to fully support the claim that mental-space in general may be shaded from
dark to pale from left to right (Peter Walker, personal communication). In addition,
we point out possibilities for future research concerning these areas
Colour fluctuations in grapheme-colour synaesthesia: The effect of clinical and non-clinical mood changes
No full textSynaesthesia is a condition that gives rise to unusual secondary sensations (e.g., colours are perceived when listening to music). These unusual sensations tend to be reported as being stable throughout adulthood (e.g., Simner & Logie, 2007, Neurocase, 13, 358) and the consistency of these experiences over time is taken as the behavioural hallmark of genuineness. Our study looked at the influence of mood states on synaesthetic colours. In Experiment 1, we recruited grapheme‐colour synaesthetes (who experience colours from letters/digits) and elicited their synaesthetic colours, as well as their mood and depression states, in two different testing sessions. In each session, participants completed the PANAS‐X (Watson & Clark, 1999) and the BDI‐II (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996, Manual for Beck Depression Inventory‐II), and chose their synaesthetic colours for letters A‐Z from an interactive colour palette. We found that negative mood significantly decreased the luminance of synaesthetic colours. In Experiment 2, we showed that synaesthetic colours were also less luminant for synaesthetes with anxiety disorder, versus those without. Additional evidence suggests that colour saturation, too, may inversely correlate with depressive symptoms. These results show that fluctuations in mood within both a normal and clinical range influence synaesthetic colours over time. This has implications for our understanding about the longitudinal stability of synaesthetic experiences, and of how mood may interact with the visual (imagery) systems
Are time-space synaesthetes superior at event recall because they are high visual imagers?
No full textIndividuals with time-space synaesthesia report experiencing time sequences (e.g. days of the week, months of the year) as explicit spatial structures located either within their mind’s eye or in the space outside their body. These synaesthetes are also recognised by their exceptional ability to recall past events (Simner et al., 2009) and their high visual imagery (Price, 2009). To better understand the relationship between time-space synaesthesia and visual imagery, we tested visual imagery (Object-Spatial Imagery Questionnaire; Blajenkova et al., 2006) and memory for past events (Edinburgh [Public and Autobiographical] Events Battery; Simner et al., 2009) in 67 non-synaesthetes. Object imagery correlated positively with the recall of autobiographical events; further investigation revealed that it is specifically involved in remembering the content, rather than the dates of memories. We then compared the EEB scores of our high object imagery non-synaesthetes to those of the synaesthetes in Simner et al. (2009). We found the latter group remembered yet more personal memories in a shorter period of time. It is likely that their superior memory for events (Simner et al., 2009) is due in part to their high imagery but also to retrieval strategies involving their explicit visuo-spatial forms. We conclude that although high visual imagery may give superior event recall, it may not be sufficient to account for the exceptional memories of time-space synaesthetes
sj-docx-1-pec-10.1177_03010066211070761 - Supplemental material for How do Different Types of Synesthesia Cluster Together? Implications for Causal Mechanisms
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-1-pec-10.1177_03010066211070761 for How do Different Types of Synesthesia Cluster Together? Implications for Causal Mechanisms by Jamie Ward and Julia Simner in Perception</p
sj-xlsx-2-pec-10.1177_03010066211070761 - Supplemental material for How do Different Types of Synesthesia Cluster Together? Implications for Causal Mechanisms
No full textSupplemental material, sj-xlsx-2-pec-10.1177_03010066211070761 for How do Different Types of Synesthesia Cluster Together? Implications for Causal Mechanisms by Jamie Ward and Julia Simner in Perception</p
A longitudinal study of grapheme-colour synaesthesia in childhood: 6/7 years to 10/11 years
No full textGrapheme-colour synaesthesia is a condition characterised by enduring and consistent associations between letter/digits and colours. This study is the continuation of longitudinal research begun by Simner, Harrold, Creed, Monro and Foulkes (2009) which aimed to explore the development of this condition in real time within a childhood population. In that earlier study we randomly sampled over 600 children and tested them aged 6/7 years and 7/8 years. We identified the child synaesthetes within that cohort and measured their development over 1 year, in comparison to a group of nonsynaesthetic children with both average and superior memories. We were able to show the beginnings of a developmental progression in which synaesthetic associations (e.g. A = red) mature over time from relatively chaotic pairings into a system of fixed consistent associations. In the current study we return to this same population three years later when participants are now 10/11 years. We used the same paired-association memory task to determine the synaesthetic status of our participants and to also establish synaesthetes’ inventories of grapheme-colour associations. We compared their inventories to those from age 6/7 year and 7/8 years to examine how synaesthesia matures over time. Together with earlier findings, our study shows that grapheme-colour synaesthesia emerges with a protracted lineal trajectory, with 34% of letters/digits fixed at age 6/7 years, 48% fixed at 7/8 years and 71% fixed at 10/11 years. We also show several cases where synaesthesia is not developing in the same time-frame as peers, either because it has died out at an older age, or because it was slower to develop than other cases. Our study paints the first picture of the emergence of synaesthesia in real-time over four years within a randomly sampled population of child synaesthetes
sj-docx-1-asm-10.1177_10731911241234104 – Supplemental material for An Automated Online Measure for Misophonia: The Sussex Misophonia Scale for Adults
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-1-asm-10.1177_10731911241234104 for An Automated Online Measure for Misophonia: The Sussex Misophonia Scale for Adults by Julia Simner, Louisa J. Rinaldi and Jamie Ward in Assessment</p
Cognitive advantages and individual differences in sequence-space synaesthesia
No full textSynaesthesia is a condition in which certain stimuli produce sensations that the general population typically does not experience. One variant is sequence-space synaesthesia in which people tend to perceive sequences (e.g., numbers, months, days, and letters) as forms that occupy actual space around them. This study aimed to test whether sequence-space synaesthetes have advantages in visuo-spatial skills such performing 2D and 3D mental rotation tasks. Previous studies asking this question have produced mixed results with some showing mental rotation advantages (Simner, Mayo & Spiller, 2009; Brang, Miller, McQuire, Ramachandran & Coulson, 2013) and some that do not (Rizza & Price, 2012). We also looked at a range of individual differences within synaesthetes that might have caused these differences across studies; specifically, effects of education, visual imagery, nature of forms (2D or 3D representation of sequences), number of forms (e.g., for months, days, numbers), and tendency to project sequences into space versus the mind’s eye only. Additionally, we sought to see if synaesthetes had better recall for events. We found that synaesthetes do show enhanced spatial abilities in 3D mental rotation as well as in memory for events. Furthermore, those synaesthetes that project their sequences into space were more accurate on the 3D mental rotation task compared to those who see sequences in the mind’s eye only. We also found that synaesthetes self-report higher visual imagery. The ability to better mentally rotate objects may stem from the ability to project and manipulate sequences, an ability not seen in those synaesthetes maintaining their forms just within their mind. Although effects of individual differences were discovered in mental rotation, none appeared to significantly influence event memory. Overall, our data support previous studies showing superior abilities in sequence-space synaesthesia in imagery (Price, 2009), mental rotation (Simner et al., 2009; Brang et al., 2013) and event memory (Simner et al., 2009) and suggest that any prior conflicts across studies (at least for mental rotation) may have arisen from individual differences in the synaesthetes recruited for testing
The Prevalence of Grapheme-Colour Synaesthesia in 6-7 year olds
No full textGrapheme-colour synaesthesia, (i.e., the automatic and consistent association of colours with letters and/or numbers), is estimated to be prevalent in just over 1% of the adult population. As yet, few published studies have assessed this relatively common phenomenon in children, nor do we understand its developmental patterns. Experiment 1 (immediate-retest condition) tested 383 primary school children (aged 6-7) for grapheme-colour synaesthesia by asking participants to choose the ‘best’ colour for each of 36 graphemes, and then performing an immediate surprise retest. Data was combined with that from Simner, Creed and Faulkes (2005) in order to provide a large sample size of 618 children, from which to gain a prevalence estimate. An initial estimate of grapheme-colour synaesthesia was found to be 4.2%. However, this value confounds true synaesthetes with children who performed well by superior memory alone. Hence Experiment 2 (1-year retest) retested 59 participants (40 controls, 19 potential synaesthetes) who originally took part in a childhood prevalence study by Simner, Creed et al. (2005). Findings showed that five of the potential synaesthetes (26.3%) continued to consistently associate colours to letters and numbers one year later. Applying this proportion to the data of Experiment 1 suggests that 1.1% of the 618 children tested (age 6-7) were true synaesthetes. Finally, the scores in immediate-retest consistency at Time 1 and Time 2 (1 year apart) were also compared, in order to assess developmental patterns of the condition. There was an average increase in consistency by true synaesthetes of 2.6 graphemes, compared to controls, who showed a smaller average increase of 1.1 graphemes, and to superior memory performers who showed an average decrease of 3.5 graphemes. This suggests that child synaesthetes have a distinct developmental pattern
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