Synaesthesia-type associations and perceptual changes induced by hypnotic suggestion.

ABSTRACT: Are synaesthetic experiences congenital and so hard-wired, or can a functional analogue be created? We induced an equivalent of form-colour synaesthesia using hypnotic suggestions in which symbols in an array (circles, crosses, squares) were suggested always to have a certain colour. In a Stroop type-naming task, three of the four highly hypnotizable participants showed a strong synaesthesia-type association between symbol and colour. This was verified both by their subjective reports and objective eye-movement behaviour. Two resembled a projector- and one an associator-type synaesthete. Participant interviews revealed that subjective experiences differed somewhat from typical (congenital) synaesthesia. Control participants who mimicked the task using cognitive strategies showed a very dif

SUBMITTER: Kallio S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5725458 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature