Gebuis Titia, Nijboer Tanja C W, van der Smagt Maarten J
Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute and Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Exp Psychol. 2009;56(3):180-7. doi: 10.1027/1618-3169.56.3.180.
Grapheme-color synesthetes experience a specific color when they see a grapheme but they do not report to perceive a grapheme when a color is presented. In this study, we investigate whether color can still evoke number-processes even when a vivid number experience is absent. We used color-number and number-color priming, both revealing faster responses in congruent compared to incongruent conditions. Interestingly, the congruency effect was of similar magnitude for both conditions, and a numerical distance effect was present only in the color-number priming task. In addition, a priming task in which synesthetes had to judge the parity of a colored number revealed faster responses in parity congruent than in parity incongruent trials. These combined results demonstrate that synesthesia is indeed bi-directional and of similar strength in both directions. Furthermore, they illustrate the precise nature of these interactions and show that the direction of these interactions is determined by task demands, not by the more vividly experienced aspect of the stimulus.
grapheme - 颜色联觉者在看到一个字素时会体验到一种特定的颜色，但当呈现一种颜色时，他们不会报告感知到一个字素。在本研究中，我们调查了即使没有生动的数字体验时，颜色是否仍然能够唤起数字处理过程。我们使用了颜色 - 数字和数字 - 颜色启动任务，二者均显示出与不一致条件相比，一致条件下的反应更快。有趣的是，两种条件下的一致性效应大小相似，并且数字距离效应仅出现在颜色 - 数字启动任务中。此外，一项让联觉者判断彩色数字奇偶性的启动任务显示，奇偶性一致的试验比奇偶性不一致的试验反应更快。这些综合结果表明，联觉确实是双向的，且在两个方向上强度相似。此外，它们说明了这些相互作用的确切性质，并表明这些相互作用的方向是由任务需求决定的，而不是由刺激中体验更生动的方面决定的。
