{"database":"biostudies-literature","file_versions":[],"scores":null,"additional":{"submitter":["Lacey S"],"funding":["NEI NIH HHS","Emory University","National Institutes of Health"],"pagination":["2716-2721"],"full_dataset_link":["https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC5089906"],"repository":["biostudies-literature"],"omics_type":["Unknown"],"volume":["44(9)"],"pubmed_abstract":["Synesthesia is a phenomenon in which an experience in one domain is accompanied by an involuntary secondary experience in another, unrelated domain; in classical synesthesia, these associations are arbitrary and idiosyncratic. Cross-modal correspondences refer to universal associations between seemingly unrelated sensory features, e.g., auditory pitch and visual size. Some argue that these phenomena form a continuum, with classical synesthesia being an exaggeration of universal cross-modal correspondences, whereas others contend that the two are quite different, since cross-modal correspondences are non-arbitrary, non-idiosyncratic, and do not involve secondary experiences. Here, we used the implicit association test to compare synesthetes' and non-synesthetes' sensitivity to cross-modal correspondences. We tested the associations between auditory pitch and visual elevation, auditory pitch and visual size, and sound-symbolic correspondences between auditory pseudowords and visual shapes. Synesthetes were more sensitive than non-synesthetes to cross-modal correspondences involving sound-symbolic, but not low-level sensory, associations. We conclude that synesthesia heightens universally experienced cross-modal correspondences, but only when these involve sound symbolism. This is only partly consistent with the idea of a continuum between synesthesia and cross-modal correspondences, but accords with the idea that synesthesia is a high-level, post-perceptual phenomenon, with spillover of the abilities of synesthetes into domains outside their synesthesias. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that synesthetes, relative to non-synesthetes, experience stronger cross-modal correspondences outside their synesthetic domains."],"journal":["The European journal of neuroscience"],"pubmed_title":["Synesthesia strengthens sound-symbolic cross-modal correspondences."],"pmcid":["PMC5089906"],"funding_grant_id":["R01EY025978","R01 EY025978"],"pubmed_authors":["Martinez M","Lacey S","McCormick K","Sathian K"],"additional_accession":[]},"is_claimable":false,"name":"Synesthesia strengthens sound-symbolic cross-modal correspondences.","description":"Synesthesia is a phenomenon in which an experience in one domain is accompanied by an involuntary secondary experience in another, unrelated domain; in classical synesthesia, these associations are arbitrary and idiosyncratic. Cross-modal correspondences refer to universal associations between seemingly unrelated sensory features, e.g., auditory pitch and visual size. Some argue that these phenomena form a continuum, with classical synesthesia being an exaggeration of universal cross-modal correspondences, whereas others contend that the two are quite different, since cross-modal correspondences are non-arbitrary, non-idiosyncratic, and do not involve secondary experiences. Here, we used the implicit association test to compare synesthetes' and non-synesthetes' sensitivity to cross-modal correspondences. We tested the associations between auditory pitch and visual elevation, auditory pitch and visual size, and sound-symbolic correspondences between auditory pseudowords and visual shapes. Synesthetes were more sensitive than non-synesthetes to cross-modal correspondences involving sound-symbolic, but not low-level sensory, associations. We conclude that synesthesia heightens universally experienced cross-modal correspondences, but only when these involve sound symbolism. This is only partly consistent with the idea of a continuum between synesthesia and cross-modal correspondences, but accords with the idea that synesthesia is a high-level, post-perceptual phenomenon, with spillover of the abilities of synesthetes into domains outside their synesthesias. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that synesthetes, relative to non-synesthetes, experience stronger cross-modal correspondences outside their synesthetic domains.","dates":{"release":"2016-01-01T00:00:00Z","publication":"2016 Nov","modification":"2025-04-04T01:07:45.366Z","creation":"2019-03-27T02:27:59Z"},"accession":"S-EPMC5089906","cross_references":{"pubmed":["27564319"],"doi":["10.1111/ejn.13381"]}}