Consistency and strength of grapheme-color associations are separable aspects of synesthetic experience.

Simon Lacey, Margaret Martinez, Nicole Steiner, Lynne C Nygaard, K Sathian

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Consciousness and cognition, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

2citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

Rainbows in my ears-Synesthetic color perception with partial-reduced and morphed musical instrument timbres.Frontiers in psychology · 2025
Article
Using immersive virtual reality to recreate the synaesthetic experience.i-Perception
Article

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Simon LaceyDepartment of Neurology, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033-0859, USA; Department of Neural & Behavioral Sciences, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033-0859, USA; Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.

Margaret MartinezDepartment of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.

Nicole SteinerDepartment of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.

Lynne C NygaardDepartment of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.

K SathianDepartment of Neurology, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033-0859, USA; Department of Neural & Behavioral Sciences, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033-0859, USA; Department of Psychology, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033-0859, USA; Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. Electronic address: ksathian@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.

Funding

Crossmodal Correspondences Between Visual and Auditory FeaturesR01EY025978 · NEI · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI DESHPANDE, GOPIKRISHNA, NYGAARD, LYNNE C · 2015 to 2017

$1.8M

NEI NIH HHS R01 EY025978

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Consistency of synesthetic associations over time is a widely used test of synesthesia. Since many studies suggest that consistency is not a completely reliable feature, we compared the consistency and strength of synesthetes' grapheme-color associations. Consistency was measured by scores on the Synesthesia Battery and by the Euclidean distance in color space for the specific graphemes tested for each participant. Strength was measured by congruency magnitudes on the Implicit Association Test. The strength of associations was substantially greater for synesthetes than non-synesthetes, suggesting that this is a novel, objective marker of synesthesia. Although, intuitively, strong associations should also be consistent, consistency and strength were uncorrelated, indicating that they are likely independent, at least for grapheme-color synesthesia. These findings have implications for our understanding of synesthesia and for estimates of its prevalence since synesthetes who experience strong, but inconsistent, associations may not be identified by tests that focus solely on consistency.

Indexed as

Color PerceptionPerceptual DisordersHumansPattern Recognition, VisualPhotic StimulationSynesthesiaColorGraphemeImplicit Association TestSynesthesia

Identifiers

PMID33933880

DOI10.1016/j.concog.2021.103137

PMCPMC9296080

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.