Increased positive and disorganised schizotypy in synaesthetes who experience colour from letters and tones

Banissy, Michael J.; Cassell, Josephine; Fitzpatrick, Sian; Ward, Jamie; Walsh, Vincent X.; Muggleton, Neil G.

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2011.06.009

Cited by 37 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…In a similar vein, our own prior work has associated colour synaesthesia with heightened levels of positive schizotypy (Banissy et al, 2012;Janik McErlean & Banissy, 2016). While high positive schizotypy traits have on occasion been linked with reduced social perception abilities in typical adults, the most consistent finding has been a relationship between altered social perception and global schizotypy traits (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…Banissy et al, 2012;Janik McErlean & Banissy, 2016) and conditions (Neufeld, et al, 2013;Baron-Cohen et al, 2013) linked with atypical social perception abilities, this study sought to examine whether grapheme-colour synaesthetes differed from non-synaesthetes in their social perception abilities. We compared grapheme-colour synaesthetes to control participants in their ability to perceive facial identity and facial emotion (happiness and anger perception).…”

Section: Experiments 1 Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, prior work has also linked grapheme-colour synaesthesia to broader differences in schizotypal personality traits (Janik McErlean & Banissy, 2016;Banissy et al, 2012). In nonsynaesthetes, schizotypy traits have associated with deficits in emotion recognition (Abbott & Byrne, 2013;Morrison, Brown & Cohen, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social perception in synaesthesia for colour

McErlean

Susilo

Rezlescu

et al. 2016

Cognitive Neuropsychology

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Synaesthesia is a rare phenomenon in which stimulation in one modality (e.g. audition) evokes a secondary percept not associated with the first (e.g. colour).Although there is a significant body of research investigating the mechanisms underlying synaesthetic experiences, it is only recently that studies have begun to investigate broader traits associated with the condition. Prior work has suggested links between synaesthesia and other neurodevelopmental conditions that are linked to altered social perception abilities. With this in mind, here we sought to examine social perception abilities in grapheme-colour synaesthesia (where achromatic graphemes evoke colour experiences) by examining facial identity and facial emotion perception in grapheme-colour synaesthetes and non-synaesthete controls. Our results indicate that individuals who experience grapheme-colour synaesthesia outperformed controls on tasks involving fine visual discrimination of facial identity and emotion, but not on tasks involving holistic face processing. These findings are discussed in the context of broader perceptual and cognitive traits previously associated with synaesthesia for colour, with the suggestion that performance benefits shown by grapheme-colour synaesthetes on fine visual discrimination of facial identity and emotion may be related to domain-general visual discrimination biases observed in this group.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Section: Experiments 1 Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social perception in synaesthesia for colour

McErlean

Susilo

Rezlescu

et al. 2016

Cognitive Neuropsychology

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“…For example, in the general population, positive schizotypy and schizophrenia have been linked to mental imagery vividness (Oertel et al, 2009;Sack, van de Ven, Etschenberg, Schatz, & Linden, 2005), and recently grapheme-color and tone-color synesthetes have been shown to have increased positive and disorganized schizotypy compared to the general population (Banissy et al, 2011). Furthermore, in the general population a relationship has been found between self-reports of image vividness and levels of fantasizing (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Beyond visual imagery: How modality-specific is enhanced mental imagery in synesthesia?

Spiller

Jonas

Simner

et al. 2015

Consciousness and Cognition

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Synesthesia based in visual modalities has been associated with reports of vivid visual imagery. We extend this finding to consider whether other forms of synesthesia are also associated with enhanced imagery, and whether this enhancement reflects the modality of synesthesia. We used self-report imagery measures across multiple sensory modalities, comparing synesthetes' responses (with a variety of forms of synesthesia) to those of nonsynesthete matched controls. Synesthetes reported higher levels of visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory and tactile imagery and a greater level of imagery use. Furthermore, their reported enhanced imagery is restricted to the modalities involved in the individual's synesthesia. There was also a relationship between the number of forms of synesthesia an individual has, and the reported vividness of their imagery, highlighting the need for future research to consider the impact of multiple forms of synesthesia. We also recommend the use of behavioral measures to validate these self-report findings.KEYWORDS: synesthesia, mental imagery, visual imagery, auditory imagery, gustatory imagery, tactile imagery, olfactory imagery Highlights: We compare self-reported mental imagery across many variants of synesthesia. Synesthetes report more vivid imagery than controls across multiple modalities. Enhanced imagery is limited to modalities involved in an individual's synesthesia. We advise researchers to consider the impact of multiple forms of synesthesia.

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“…These widespread differences in neuronal processing may be functionally relevant: enhanced perceptual ability is reported in synaesthetes (Banissy, Walsh and Ward, 2009) as well as more vivid imagery ͺ (Spiller, Jonas, Simner & Jansari, 2015) even for stimuli not implicated in their synaesthesia . Synaesthesia is also associated with increased scores of positive and negative schizotypy (Banissy et al, 2012), indicating a general tendency to make unusual cognitive associations. The condition has also been reported as being significantly more common in people with autism spectrum disorders ( Baron-Cohen et al 2013;Neufeld et al 2013), indicating that synaesthetic experiences can indeed arise as one aspect of a broader phenotype.…”

Section: Are Common Multisensory Interactions Generally Enhanced In Smentioning

confidence: 98%

Multisensory integration and cross-modal learning in synaesthesia: A unifying model

Newell

Mitchell

2016

Neuropsychologia

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Increased positive and disorganised schizotypy in synaesthetes who experience colour from letters and tones

Cited by 37 publications

References 15 publications

Social perception in synaesthesia for colour

Social perception in synaesthesia for colour

Beyond visual imagery: How modality-specific is enhanced mental imagery in synesthesia?

Multisensory integration and cross-modal learning in synaesthesia: A unifying model

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