Yaro Caroline, Ward Jamie
University College London, London, UK.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2007 May;60(5):681-95. doi: 10.1080/17470210600785208.
Some individuals with superior memory, such as the mnemonist Shereshevskii (Luria, 1968), are known to have synaesthesia. However, the extent to which superior memory is a general characteristic of synaesthesia is unknown, as is the precise cognitive mechanism by which synaesthesia affects memory. This study demonstrates that synaesthetes tend to report subjectively better than average memory and that these reports are borne out with objective testing. Synaesthetes experiencing colours for words show better memory than matched controls for stimuli that induce synaesthesia (word lists) relative to stimuli that do not (an abstract figure). However, memory advantages are not limited to material that elicits synaesthesia because synaesthetes demonstrate enhanced memory for colour per se (which does not induce a synaesthetic response). Our results suggest that the memory enhancement found in synaesthetes is related to an enhanced retention of colour in both synaesthetic and nonsynaesthetic situations. Furthermore, this may account for the fact that synaesthetic associations, once formed, remain highly consistent.
一些拥有超强记忆力的人，比如记忆大师谢列谢夫斯基（卢里亚，1968年），被认为患有联觉症。然而，超强记忆力在多大程度上是联觉症的普遍特征尚不清楚，联觉症影响记忆的确切认知机制也不清楚。这项研究表明，联觉者往往主观上报告自己的记忆力比一般人好，而且这些报告在客观测试中得到了证实。相对于非诱发联觉的刺激（抽象图形），经历字词联觉色彩的联觉者在诱发联觉的刺激（单词列表）方面比匹配的对照组表现出更好的记忆力。然而，记忆优势并不局限于引发联觉的材料，因为联觉者对颜色本身（不会诱发联觉反应）也表现出增强的记忆力。我们的研究结果表明，联觉者中发现的记忆增强与在联觉和非联觉情况下对颜色的增强保留有关。此外，这可能解释了联觉联想一旦形成就会高度一致的事实。
