Cross-modal, bidirectional priming in grapheme-color synesthesia

Abstract

Grapheme-color synesthetes perceive achromatic graphemes to be inherently colored. In this study grapheme-color synesthetes and non-synesthetes discriminated (1) the color of visual targets presented along with aurally presented digit primes, and (2) the identity of aurally presented digit targets presented with visual color primes. Reaction times to visual color targets were longer when the color of the target was incongruent with the synesthetic percept reported for the prime. Likewise, discriminating aurally presented digit targets took longer when the color of the prime was incongruent with the synesthetic percept for the target. These priming effects were absent in non-synesthetes. We conclude that binding between digits and colors in grapheme-color synesthetes can occur bidirectionally across senses. The results are in line with the idea that synesthesia is the result of linking inducing stimuli (e.g. digits) to synesthetic percepts (colors) at an abstract - supra-modal - conceptual level of processing.