Cite as:
Winawer J, Witthoft N, 2003, "Modulating the synesthetic experience: A case study" Perception 32 ECVP Abstract Supplement
Modulating the synesthetic experience: A case study
J Winawer, N Witthoft
In grapheme-colour synesthesia, graphemes cause the synesthete to see colours not present in the stimulus (photisms). The colour produced by a given symbol tends to remain constant over time. However, in a synesthetic subject, AED, we have identified a number of conditions that alter the vividness of the photism and/or cause shifts in brightness or hue. Based on AED's subjective ratings, the strongest photisms are elicited either by neutral (gray) characters, or characters coloured consistently with her mappings. Characters displayed in inconsistent colours make the photism less vivid. Further, for each grapheme, there is a region in colour space that eliminates the photism (the 'anti-colour'). The hue value of this anti-colour is highly correlated with the hue of the colour complementary to her normal synesthetic match (r2 = 0.91). In a modified Stroop task, ink naming is slowed for graphemes displayed in a colour inconsistent with the photism. However, in trials in which the photism is eliminated or reduced because the grapheme is presented in the opponent colour, there is significantly less slowing. This suggests that the interference in the Stroop task is partly perceptual. However, a grapheme displayed in its anti-colour can produce a photism if there are multiple surrounding letters, and, more generally, the vividness of the photism of any grapheme increases when multiple graphemes are presented adjacent to one another. Surfaces are not necessary to produce a photism, as a cardboard sheet with letters cut out elicits a transparent colour percept in the plane of the hole. This photism is weakened if complex images with many colours are seen through the hole. Thus, the experience of the photism is not dependent only on recognition of the grapheme.
These web-based abstracts are provided for ease of seaching and access, but certain aspects (such as as mathematics) may not appear in their optimum form. For the final published version of this abstract, please see
ECVP 2003 Abstract Supplement (complete) size: 1712 Kb
