A different outlook on time: Visual and auditory month names elicit different mental vantage points for a time-space synaesthete

Jarick, Michelle; Dixon, Mike J.; Stewart, Mark T.; Maxwell, Emily C.; Smilek, Daniel

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2009.05.014

Cited by 41 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…One obvious difference is that some synaesthetes experience only very few forms, while others experience many. For example, synaesthete L. experiences three forms, for numbers, months of the year and hours in the day (Jarick, Dixon, Stewart, Maxwell & Smilek, 2009) while synaesthete DG has at least 58 different forms, including forms for height, TV stations, body temperature, and even pure-bred dog naming sequences (Hubbard, Ranzini, Piazza and Dehaene, 2009). …”

Section: Individual Differences In Synaesthetesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our aim is to examine whether individuals with sequence-space synaesthesia show cognitive advantages when compared to the general population, and whether there are individual differences among sequence-space synaesthetes that might moderate these advantages. Sequence-space synaesthetes often claim to be able to manipulate the viewing-angle and/or size of their synaesthetic forms by taking multiple perspectives, or mentally reorienting the array, or by 'zooming in' on certain portions (e.g., Simner et al, 2009;Jarick et al, 2009, Eagleman, 2009. Consequently, these individuals might be considered relatively well practised in manipulating mental objects and could therefore perhaps perform well in similar visuo-spatial tasks conducted in the lab.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Do sequence-space synaesthetes have better spatial imagery skills? Yes, but there are individual differences

2015

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Copyright and reuse:Sussex Research Online is a digital repository of the research output of the University.Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable, the material made available in SRO has been checked for eligibility before being made available.Copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. AbstractPeople with sequence-space synaesthesia perceive sequences (e.g., numbers, months, letters)

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Section: Individual Differences In Synaesthetesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do sequence-space synaesthetes have better spatial imagery skills? Yes, but there are individual differences

2015

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“…Using a similar procedure to the numeral cueing study of Further recent studies have continued to explore cueing effects arising from written names of various types of sequence member, including months for participants with month forms, numerals for participants with number lines, weekdays for a participant with a weekday form, clock times for a participant with a vivid involuntary image of a clock face, and letters for participants with forms for the alphabet sequence (Hubbard et al, 2009;Jarick et al, 2009aJarick et al, , 2009b2011a;2011b;Jonas et al, 2011;Teuscher et al, 2010). The cueing effects observed in these participants again differed from those of control participants, and seem to reflect the relative left-to-right or bottom-to-top locations of sequence members in the synaesthetes' reported forms.…”

Section: Applying Spatial Cueing To Study Spatial Formsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All but one of the studies listed in Table 1 measured cueing at more than one CTOA. Of those studies, most reported that the size of the cueing effect was unaffected by CTOA, and all observed significant cueing at CTOAs of at least 500 msecs, with some studies showing it even at 800 msecs (Jarick et al, 2009b) or 900 msecs (Hubbard et al, 2009). Only one study found that cueing disappeared at a longer CTOA -of 800 msecs -but this occurred for a synaesthete who had taken part in several cueing studies, and who was therefore highly practiced.…”

Section: The Time Course Of Cueing Effects Indicates They Are Dissimimentioning

confidence: 99%

Automaticity in sequence-space synaesthesia: A critical appraisal of the evidence

Price

Mattingley

2013

Cortex

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For many people, thinking about certain types of common sequence -for example calendar units or numerals -elicits a vivid experience that the sequence members occupy spatial locations which are in turn part of a larger spatial pattern of sequence members.Recent research on these visuospatial experiences has usually considered them to be a variety of synaesthesia, and many studies have argued that this sequence-space synaesthesia is an automatic process, consistent with a traditional view that automaticity is a key property of synaesthesia. In this review we present a critical discussion of data from the three main paradigms that have been used to argue for automaticity in sequencespace synaesthesia, namely SNARC-like effects (Spatial-Numerical-Association-ofResponse-Codes), spatial cueing, and perceptual incongruity effects. We suggest that previous studies have been too imprecise in specifying which type of automaticity is implicated. Moreover, mirroring previous challenges to automaticity in other types of synaesthesia, we conclude that existing data are at best ambiguous regarding the automaticity of sequence-space synaesthesia, and may even be more consistent with the effects of controlled (i.e., non-automatic) processes. This lack of strong evidence for automaticity reduces the temptation to seek explanations of sequence-space synaesthesia in terms of processes mediated by qualitatively abnormal brain organisation or mechanisms. Instead, more parsimonious explanations in terms of extensively rehearsed associations, established for example via normal processes of visuospatial imagery, are convergent with arguments that synaesthetic phenomena are on a continuum with normal cognition.

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“…One way of investigating the nature of timespace synaesthesia is by using spatial cueing paradigms, where a month of the year directs attention to a specific location, which might be the valid or invalid location for the following target [33]. A recent event-related potential (ERP) study, using a similar cueing paradigm, demonstrated not only an effect in particular on the P3b component, but also that names of months were more efficient for directing spatial attention than arrows or direction words, such as "left" [36].…”

Section: Grapheme-colour Synaesthesiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Synaesthesia: cross activations, high interconnectivity, and a parietal hub

Specht¹

2012

Translational Neuroscience

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This review summarizes the most recent studies on synaesthesia, particularly studies on grapheme-colour synaesthesia, time-space synaesthesia, and coloured-hearing synaesthesia. Based on behavioural as well as neuroimaging studies, there is emerging evidence that synaesthesia is not only caused by the cross activation of two sensory areas but that it may require additional binding processes, which are assumed to take place in the parietal lobe. However, divergent results exist with respect to the lateralization of this effect, i.e. whether it is the left or right parietal lobe most responsible. Studies also indicate that attention modulates the synaesthetic experience. Furthermore, it has been shown that synaesthetes demonstrate a higher level of connectivity, thus supporting the view of a genetic pre-disposition of synaesthesia. What is synaesthesia?Synaesthesia describes a rare condition in which a particular sensory stimulus involuntarily evokes an additional, concurrent sensation, which may or may not be in the same sensory modality. The term "synaesthesia" is a combination of the Greek words σύν (syn) = together/ joined, and of the Greek word αἲσθησις (aisthēsis), which means perceptions.In other words, a synaesthete perceives two joint and concurrent perceptions, where only one is caused by a real, external stimulus, while the other is an internally-evoked synaesthetic experience without any direct external cause.The cross-link between the real stimulus and the synaesthetic experience is always the same, for example: seeing the letter A always evokes the synaesthetic experience of seeing the letter in yellow, independent of the real printed colour. In order to understand the processes behind synaesthesia, one has to bear in mind that perception goes beyond the simple processing of sensory information. In general, other cognitive processes involving experience and expectancy, and additionally, conflicting and interfering information, always influence perception. This is the same for synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes. However, the important difference between synaesthesia and, for example, a learned association is that a synaesthetic experience cannot be trained and thus the concurrent synaesthetic experience is involuntary and automatically generated. This cross-sensational perception is highly consistent throughout the lifespan, as it remains unchanged from early childhood.It is also important to note that synaesthesia is by no means a psychological, psychiatric,

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A different outlook on time: Visual and auditory month names elicit different mental vantage points for a time-space synaesthete

Cited by 41 publications

References 31 publications

Do sequence-space synaesthetes have better spatial imagery skills? Yes, but there are individual differences

Do sequence-space synaesthetes have better spatial imagery skills? Yes, but there are individual differences

Automaticity in sequence-space synaesthesia: A critical appraisal of the evidence

Synaesthesia: cross activations, high interconnectivity, and a parietal hub

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