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The experimental stimulus sets of each synesthete. Digits were used as distractors and letters as targets in experiment 1. Grapheme colors are averages (in RGB color space) over three trials of grapheme-color mapping on a computerized color palette (see Fig 3).
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Grapheme-color synesthesia is a condition where the perception of graphemes consistently and automatically evokes an experience of non-physical color. Many have studied how synesthesia affects the processing of achromatic graphemes, but less is known about the synesthetic processing of physically colored graphemes. Here, we investigated how the vis...
Citations
... Interestingly, in some cases, color perception can occur in the absence of color information entering the retina. Notably, when presented with black letters, individuals with grapheme-color synesthesia do experience colors (Cytowič, 1993;Ásgeirsson et al., 2015). Although synesthesia is a fascinating phenomenon, the general population seems to also make associations to categories across sensory modalities. ...
Since Kandinsky's claim for fundamental shape–color associations, several studies have revealed that those tendencies were not generalizable to the entire population and that different associations were more prevalent. Past studies, however, lacked a methodology that allowed participants to freely report their shape–color preferences. Here, we report data from 7,517 Danish individuals, using a free choice full color wheel for five different geometrical shapes. We find significant shape–hue associations for circle-red/yellow, triangle-green/yellow, square-blue, and pentagon/hexagon-magenta. The significant shape–hue associations are also more saturated than non-significant ones for the circle, triangle, and square. At the conceptual level, basic shapes, which show stronger associations, are linked to primary colors, and non-basic shapes to secondary colors. Shape-color associations seem indeed to follow the Berlin-Kay stages of entry into languages. This pattern had previously been described for graphemes and weekday–color associations. The methodology employed in our study can be repeated in different cultural contexts in the future. We also provide another instance of color associations for ordinal concepts that follow the stages of entry into languages.
... Interestingly, in some cases, color perception can occur in the absence of color information entering the retina. Notably, when presented with black letters, individuals with grapheme-color synesthesia do experience colors (Cytowič, 1993;Ásgeirsson et al., 2015). Although synesthesia is a fascinating phenomenon, the general population seems to also make associations to categories across sensory modalities. ...
... TVA has been used to disentangle components of attention and visual STM on a variety of different topics, such as EEG and aging (Wiegand et al., 2014), synesthesia (Ásgeirsson, Nordfang, & Sørensen, 2015), ADHD (Caspersen, Petersen, Vangkilde, Plessen, & Habekost, 2017), and in clinical settings (Habekost, 2015). Here we apply TVA to disentangle the relationship between the familiarity and the number of strokes in Chinese characters, as well as how these two aspects affect processing and encoding into VSTM. ...
Using Chinese characters, we investigated how stroke count and frequency of use influence attention and short-term memory (STM) encoding in Mainland Chinese speakers. To isolate specific components of attention we employed the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA), which allowed estimates of STM capacity, processing speed, and the threshold of visual perception. An analysis of TVA parameters revealed that familiarity affects both the memory capacity and processing speed of objects, whereas the threshold for visual perception remained unaffected. Interestingly, our results also indicate that modulation of attention is driven solely by familiarity with the characters, independent of the actual physical aspect of Chinese characters. We propose that mental categories and prior knowledge play a vital role in the processing of information in attention, as well as in how this information is stored and represented in visual STM. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
... What kind of perceptual/cognitive processing occurs when experiencing synaesthetic associations (e.g. [16][17][18][19])? What is the neural basis of it (i.e. the brain structure and functioning, e.g. ...
One of the fundamental questions about grapheme–colour synaesthesia is how specific associations between the graphemes and colours are formed. We addressed this question by focusing on the determinants of synaesthetic colours for Japanese Kanji characters (logographic characters) using a psycholinguistic approach. Study 1 explored the influence meaning has on synaesthetic colours for Kanji characters representing abstract meanings by examining synaesthetic colours for antonym pairs (i.e. characters with meanings opposed to each other) in Japanese synaesthetes. Results showed that semantic relations influenced the grapheme–colour associations for characters representing abstract meanings in the early stages of learning abstract Kanji, while the influence was reduced in the grapheme–colour associations for those learned later. Study 2 examined the effect that learning new sounds or meanings of graphemes has on synaesthetic colours for those graphemes. Japanese synaesthetes were taught new sounds or new meanings for familiar Kanji characters. Results indicated that acquiring new information for graphemes slightly but significantly reduced the test–retest grapheme–colour association consistency, suggesting that synaesthetic colours can be modulated to reflect the synaesthete's latest knowledge about graphemes. Implications of these findings are discussed from the perspective of the relationship between synaesthesia and grapheme learning.
This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Bridging senses: novel insights from synaesthesia’.
... PR andWR, the CombiTVA paradigm, and further variations have been used in various studies. Recent examples are studies of synesthesia (Ásgeirsson, Nordfang, & Sørensen, 2015), processing speed in video gamers (Schubert et al., 2015;Wilms, Petersen, & Vangkilde, 2013), or children with attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder (McAvinue et al., 2015). ...
The distribution of visual attention can influence the temporal perception of visual events. If two stimuli are shown in close temporal succession, the second one can be perceived as appearing first, if attention is directed toward it. This phenomenon is known as "prior entry" and has a long history in perception research. However, important fundamental mechanisms that drive the phenomenon were unknown until recently. For instance, how the acceleration of attended and deceleration of unattended stimuli in their processing combine to prior entry was unknown. The cause for this and similar shortcomings are limitations in the methods typically applied in temporal-order judgment (TOJ) research. Importantly, the methods lack strong theories that describe the fundamental encoding processes in TOJs. In this work, a strong theory of attention-biased encoding, TVA (Theory of Visual Attention) is used to model TOJs. In several experiments, the fundamental open questions regarding the perception of temporal order were answered using TVA-based models. For example, the results show that prior entry arises from equipotent speedups and slowdowns of attended and unattended stimuli, respectively. However, the slowdown component is of greater importance for the bias manifested in the prior-entry effect. Another result of this thesis is the quantitative description of the strong effect of peripheral cues in TOJs, which is in part caused by cue-target confusions on the encoding level.
... Behavioural data was then collected and modelled using the TVA toolbox for MatLab [17], which allow us to isolate specific components of attention [18][19][20]. ...
We explore whether expertise can modulate the capacity of visual short-term memory, as some seem to argue that training affects capacity of short-term memory [13] while others are not able to find this modulation [12]. We extend on a previous study [3] demonstrating expertise effects by investigating different groups of healthy adults. In a whole report paradigm [5] we investigate performance on standardized pictures [11], Latin letters, and Japanese hiragana. Expertise was modulated between groups of novice (Danish university students), trained (Danish university students studying Japanese), and expert observers (Japanese university students). For both the picture and the letter condition we find no performance difference in memory capacity, however, in the critical hiragana condition we demonstrate a systematic difference relating expertise differences between the groups. These results are in line with the theoretical interpretation that visual short-term memory reflects the sum of the reverberating feedback loops to representations in long-term memory.
Synesthetes can be distinguished from nonsynesthetes on a variety of experimental tasks because their concurrent synesthetic experiences can affect task performance if these experiences match or conflict with some aspect of the stimulus. Here, we tested grapheme‐color synesthetes and nonsynesthetic control participants using a novel perceptual similarity task to assess whether synesthetes’ concurrent color experiences influence perceived grapheme similarity. Participants iteratively arranged graphemes and, separately, their associated synesthetic colors in a display, such that similar items were placed close together and dissimilar items further apart. The resulting relative inter‐item distances were used to calculate the pair‐wise (dis)similarity between items in the set, and thence to create separate perceptual representational dissimilarity matrices (RDMs) for graphemes and colors, on an individual basis. On the assumption that synesthetes’ similarity judgments for graphemes would be influenced by their concurrent color experiences, we predicted that grapheme and color RDMs would be more strongly correlated for synesthetes than nonsynesthetes. We found that the mean grapheme‐color RDM correlation was indeed significantly higher in synesthetes than nonsynesthetes; in addition, synesthetes’ grapheme‐color RDM correlations were more likely to be individually statistically significant, even after correction for multiple tests, than those of nonsynesthetes. Importantly, synesthetes’ grapheme‐color RDM correlations were scaled with the consistency of their grapheme‐color associations as measured by their Synesthesia Battery (SB) scores. By contrast, the relationship between SB scores and grapheme‐color RDM correlations for nonsynesthetes was not significant. Thus, dissimilarity analysis quantitatively distinguished synesthetes from nonsynesthetes, in a way that meaningfully reflects a key aspect of synesthetic experience.
Does Monday have a specific color? What does the ABC song taste like? These may sound like strange questions, but for a small number of people, such questions may be very reasonable. This is due to a phenomenon called synesthesia. It originates from Greek, meaning “joined” (syn) and “sensations” (esthesia). We experience the environment through a range of senses. You may hear music with your ears or enjoy the color of a clear sky with your eyes. However, when someone has synesthesia, certain experiences seem to have an additional sensory dimension. So, on top of hearing music, a person with synesthesia may also see the song in front of them. The phenomenon is still not fully understood. However, there are several suggestions about its mechanisms. Synesthesia provides an insight into individual differences in how we experience the world we live in.
Grapheme‐color synesthesia is a heterogeneous neurological phenomenon whereby the experience of a grapheme automatically and involuntarily elicits an experience of color. While the majority of synesthesia research has focused on inducer‐specific influences of synesthetic associations, more recent efforts have examined potential broader differences. Based on spontaneous reports from synesthetes detailing problems with face recognition, in conjunction with the geographical proximity of neurological regions relevant to both synesthesia and face processing, we sought to examine whether synesthetes demonstrated atypical face‐processing abilities.
A total of 16 grapheme‐color synesthetes and 16 age‐and‐gender matched controls (±3 years) completed the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT; Duchaine & Nakayama, 2006) of face memory, the Vanderbilt Holistic Face Processing Task (VHPT‐F; Richler, Floyd, & Gauthier, 2014) of holistic face processing, as well as a standardized self‐report questionnaire the Faces and Emotions Questionnaire (Freeman, Palermo, & Brock, 2015). The results revealed significantly poorer performance in synesthete's ability to recognize faces in the CFMT that was driven by a reduction in upright advantage. Results also revealed a significant reduction in overall accuracy on the VHPT‐F for synesthetes, who despite this displayed a comparable holistic processing advantage compared to matched controls. Finally, synesthetes also rated themselves as significantly worse at face recognition. We suggest that this pattern may reflect differences in the development of individualized perceptual strategies.
The paper reveals the concept of semiotics of art as a separate field of study that impacts the process of developing musical semiosis in younger students. Important attention is paid to creation of abstract sensory images in younger students through the perception of synesthesia phenomenon. This ensures the formation of specific synesthetic codes that allow to transmit information at a special cognitive level based on physical and emotional experience of students. Musical art is of great interest for semiotics, aimed at finding principles, components of the basis of the content formation process in the field of human sensory experience. During the twentieth century, the synesthetic paradigm had been gradually entering the scholarly apparatus of art history and music pedagogy and manifesting itself in the aesthetic aspect of those arts and sciences. While perceiving art, younger students develop metaphors of sensory perception, which unite various sensory systems. Synesthesia promotes the perception of music as the movement of the “sound body” in the imaginary space with the following coordinates: depth — the texture of the sound; vertical line — harmony; horizontal line — melody. It is music that “awakens” synesthesia, not only through the expressive and personal nature of experiencing color and sound, but also through the specifics of motility and the natural state of a person. The action mechanism of synesthesia as a means of musical semiosis is that a student perceiving or performing music switches between arts. As a result, aesthetic culture of younger students develops and opportunities for optimal achievement of music education objectives uncover.
