Enhanced associative memory for colour (but not shape or location) in synaesthesia

Pritchard, Jamie; Rothen, Nicolas; Coolbear, Daniel; Ward, Jamie (2013). Enhanced associative memory for colour (but not shape or location) in synaesthesia. Cognition, 127(2), pp. 230-234. Elsevier 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.12.012

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People with grapheme-colour synaesthesia have been shown to have enhanced memory on a range of tasks using both stimuli that induce synaesthesia (e.g. words) and, more surprisingly, stimuli that do not (e.g. certain abstract visual stimuli). This study examines the latter by using multi-featured stimuli consisting of shape, colour and location conjunctions (e.g. shape A + colour A + location A; shape B + colour B + location B) presented in a recognition memory paradigm. This enables distractor items to be created in which one of these features is ‘unbound’ with respect to the others (e.g. shape A + colour B + location A; shape A + colour A + location C). Synaesthetes had higher recognition rates suggesting an enhanced ability to bind certain visual features together into memory. Importantly, synaesthetes’ false alarm rates were lower only when colour was the unbound feature, not shape or location. We suggest that synaesthetes are “colour experts” and that enhanced perception can lead to enhanced memory in very specific ways; but, not for instance, an enhanced ability to form associations per se. The results support contemporary models that propose a continuum between perception and memory.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Psychological and Behavioral Health

UniBE Contributor:

Rothen, Nicolas

Subjects:

100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0010-0277

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Nicolas Rothen

Date Deposited:

02 Mar 2016 09:36

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:51

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.cognition.2012.12.012

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Synaesthesia/synesthesia, Colour/color, Perception, Memory

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.75977

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/75977

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