Non-random associations of graphemes to colours in synaesthetic and non-synaesthetic populations

Julia Simner, Jamie Ward, Monika Lanz, Ashok Jansari, Krist Noonan, Louise Glover, David A Oakley

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This study shows that biases exist in the associations of letters with colours across individuals both with and without grapheme-colour synaesthesia. A group of grapheme-colour synaesthetes were significantly more consistent over time in their choice of colours than a group of controls. Despite this difference, there were remarkable inter-subject agreements, both within and across participant groups (e.g., a tends to be red, b tends to be blue, c tends to be yellow). This suggests that grapheme-colour synaesthesia, whilst only exhibited by certain individuals, stems in part from mechanisms that are common to us all. In addition to shared processes, each population has its own distinct profile. Synaesthetes tend to associate higher frequency graphemes with higher frequency colour terms. For control participants, choices are influenced by order of elicitation, and by exemplar typicality from the semantic class of colours.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1069-85
Number of pages17
JournalCognitive Neuropsychology
Volume22
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2005

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