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

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.

Sound symbolism in synesthesia: Evidence from a lexical–gustatory synesthete

“…Given this, we can conclude that broad sound symbolic rules contribute, at least to some extent, to the formation of JIW's word-flavour associations. Our study provides additional support for the existing literature suggesting that synaesthesia is an exaggeration or heightened consciousness of rule-guided cross-modal associations present in the general public (e.g., Beeli, Esslen, & Jancke, 2007;Simner et al, 2005). However, we have also provided information about the very nature of sound symbolism, using evidence from synaesthesia.…”

Synaesthesia in Chinese characters: The role of radical function and position

“…In other words, semantic radicals appear to have most influence on synaesthetic colouring when they sit in their most frequent, optimal position. Linguistic frequency has also been shown to influence synaesthetic colouring in a number of other ways for English synaesthetes (Simner & Ward, 2008;Simner et al, 2005;Smilek et al, 2007), as well as other European language speaking synaesthetes (e.g., German; see Beeli et al, 2007);. Our present findings appear to extend this to Chinese synaesthetes.…”

“…As such, we encourage future research to investigate again these effects against the level of fluency of speakers. Future research might also test Chinese nonsynaesthetes as controls to establish whether the intuitions of non-synaesthetes mirror those of genuine synaesthetes, as has been found in other studies (e.g., Simner et al, 2005).. In summary, we have shown that the colour of left-right compound characters is significantly closer to certain radical types over others, according to their function and position.…”

“…Synaesthetes are typically highly consistent in their colour associations (e.g., A=red; B=green) when asked repeatedly, and they tend to be significantly more consistent than non-synaesthetes (e.g., Baron-Cohen, Wyke, & Binnie, 1987;Mattingley, Rich, Yelland, & Bradshaw, 2001;Rich, Bradshaw, & Mattingley, 2005;Simner & Ward, 2006;Simner et al, 2005). The Synesthesia Battery has an in-built consistency test because it elicits synaesthetic colours three times for each stimulus (e.g., each character) and then compares how close in colour-space those three responses fall.…”

“…For example, people with grapheme-colour synaesthesia tend to share preferences for the colours of letters (e.g., A is often red from synaesthete to synaesthete) and that these preferences may have a structure behind them. For example, across large groups of synaesthetes, the linguistic frequency of letters correlates with the linguistic frequency of the concurrent's colour term (e.g., high frequency A often pairs with high frequency 'red'; Simner & Ward, 2008;Simner et al, 2005). The linguistic frequency of the letter inducer also tends to correlate with the concurrent's luminance and saturation (Beeli, Esslen, & Jaencke, 2007;Smilek, Carriere, Dixon, & Merikle, 2007).…”