Is it for real? Evaluating authenticity of musical pitch-space synesthesia

Abstract

In spatial-sequence synesthesia, ordinal sequences are visualized in explicit spatial locations. We examined a recently documented subtype in which musical notes are represented in spatial configurations, to verify consistency and automaticity of musical pitch-space (M-S) synesthesia. An M-S synesthete performed a mapping pre-task (Exp. 1) used to indicate the locations of 7 auditory or visually presented notes, in 2 sessions a month apart. Results revealed strong correlations between sessions, suggesting the synesthete's musical forms were consistent over time. Experiment 2 assessed automaticity of M-S synesthesia. The same synesthete and matched controls preformed a spatial Stroop-like task. Participants were presented with an auditory or visual musical note and then had to reach for an asterisk (target) with a mouse cursor. The target appeared in a compatible or incompatible location (according to the synesthete's spatial representation). A compatibility effect was found for the synesthete but not for controls. The synesthete was significantly faster when the target appeared in compatible locations than in incompatible ones. Our findings show that for synesthetes, auditory and visually presented notes automatically trigger attention to specific spatial locations according to their specific M-S associations.

Instrumental expertise and musical timbre modulate the spatial representation of pitch

“…More critically, these results indicate that the spatial representation of pitch along the vertical plane is not influenced by instrumental expertise and musical timbre. These findings, therefore, corroborate the view according to which the mapping between pitch height and vertical space would reflect an intrinsic spatial characteristic of pitch, as confirmed by its presence in pitch–space synesthetes (Linkovski et al, 2012), as well as in the general population (Ben-Artzi & Marks, 1995; Dolscheid et al, 2014; Lidji et al, 2007; Nava et al, 2016; Rusconi et al, 2006; Walker et al, 2010) and in pre-lingual infants (Dolscheid et al, 2014; Nava et al, 2016; Roffler & Butler, 1968; Walker et al, 2010). In fact, the vertical representation of pitch is supposed to originate from a natural mapping between auditory frequency and elevation, given that high-frequency sounds tend to originate from more elevated sources than low-frequency sounds (Parise et al, 2014).…”

How automatic are crossmodal correspondences?

“…The synaesthetic association of sounds of different pitches with specific elevations in space, as happens in (rare) cases of music-space synaesthesia have, for instance, been shown to result in automatic processing (at least in the sense of being involuntary and goal-independent) and to lead to compatibility effects in spatial Stroop-like tasks: When both synaesthetic and non-synaesthetic participants are presented with a musical note and have to reach for a visual target with the cursor of a mouse, only the synaesthetes are significantly faster when the target appears in a compatible as compared to an incompatible location (see Linkovski, Akiva-Kabiri, Gertner, & Henik, 2012).…”

Representation of pitch in horizontal space and its dependence on musical and instrumental experience.

“…The mapping between pitch height and vertical location is a strong and robust association present in pitch-space synesthetes (Linkovski, Akiva-Kabiri, Gertner, & Henik, 2012) as well as the general population (Spence, 2011; Rusconi et al, 2006; Ben-Artzi & Marks, 1995). Participants make this association irrespective of reinforcement of the association through language, although language does seem to shape cross-modal correspondences.…”