|
|
 |
back to main conference page |
|---|
2007 Conference: Provisional programme and abstracts
Conference Abstracts Featured Artist: Josie Beszant
As an artist Josie’s paintings have become increasingly influenced by her degree in linguistics. This series of paintings are part of an ongoing exploration into sound symbolism, metaphor and synaesthesia. The layers of meaning and connotation in words and phonemes and the environment that produces sound fascinate Josie. She is currently writing her dissertation on the importance of synaesthesia, to issues of cognition metaphor and sound symbolism. Jamie Ward, Caroline Yaro, Daisy Thompson-Lake, & Noam Sagiv Department of Psychology, University College London Synaesthetes differ from other members of the population because of their unusual perceptual experiences. But are they different in any other ways? The answer to this question is important for at least two reasons. Firstly, it may help to shed light on the underlying mechanisms that give rise to synaesthesia (e.g. are there more widespread differences in the brains of synaesthetes?). Secondly, it may help us to learn more about how perception affects other aspects of cognition (memory, language, etc.). In this talk, I will consider three skills: (1) memory, (2) arithmetic and (3) art and creativity. Memory is often reported to be a strength and, indeed, we present evidence to show that synaesthetes who experience colour from letters and words have better memory for these. In addition, they also have better memory for colour even though colour does not trigger synaesthesia in these people. Arithmetic is often reported to be a weakness and we present evidence that confirms this. Difficulties in arithmetic are reported in several types of synaesthesia (word-taste, number-colour). Finally, synaesthetes are often reported to be more interested in art and are reported to be more creative. We find only partial support for this assertion. An interest in art is related to specific profiles of synaesthesia (e.g. sound-vision synaesthetes are more likely to play a musical instrument). Synaesthetes do not perform better on a test of divergent thinking (i.e. creativity) although they are more able to notice distant associations between words. Scrolled Voices — Synesthetic encounters of a different kind Karl Clausberg, Professor of Art History, Hamburg Research focussing on synesthesia has come up with a carefully groomed nomenclature of basic phenomena. They have been called photisms, phonisms &c originally and then were replaced by even more meticulous terms like chromatic-lexical, chromatic-phonemic and so forth, where the first item designates the additional synesthetic experience. In the 19th century, however, such elementary binaries of sensation seemed to be only second-order qualities of visions, phantasms, number-forms and mental imagery in general. Diving even further down into the vast archives of art history one is bound to encounter truly strange varieties of apparent synesthetic cross-breeding: scrolled voices. They were shown not only like oversized tongues, but were used as well manually as snares, maces &c. Speech-bubbles are the remote&reduced descendants of this high-medieval zoo of artificial limbs and tools engaged in imaginary behaviour. — My presentation will deliver a fair sampling of such cross-modal bodily extensions and discuss theories concerning cultural modelling of synesthetic perception/presentation. The Colour for Chinese Characters: A Comparison between Native and Non- native Chinese Speaking Synaesthetes Wan-Yu Hung1 Julia Simner2 1 School of Informatics, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK This study investigates synaesthesia in Mandarin Chinese, a language that differs vastly from alphabetic systems such as English. In Chinese, words are written as ‘characters’ (e.g., 國 ) and their pronunciations can be marked by a Romanised spelling with a numeral at the end (e.g., 國 = guo2) to indicate its lexical tone (e.g., 1, 2, 3, and 4 represent high, rising, falling-rising, and falling tones respectively). Based on this unique characteristic of written Chinese, we assume that word-colouring in Chinese would differ drastically from that of alphabetic languages. This would provide evidence that synaesthesia, at least to some extent, depends on one’s particular language environment. Recent studies of synaesthesia in alphabetic languages suggest that words may be coloured by their initial letters or vowels. We tested this on our five Chinese- speaking synaesthetes (two native speakers; three non-native speakers) and 20 controls (10 native speakers; 10 non-native speakers). Synaesthetes provided their synaesthetic colours for a list of Chinese characters, and were significantly more consistent in their choices over 2 months, compared to the controls after only 2 weeks. We examined whether there was any systematic pattern to the colours assigned to different characters. In particular, we asked whether word- colouring in Chinese is related to (a) the initial letter, (b) the initial vowel, of a character’s Romanised spelling, or (c) lexical tones. Our results showed evidence for letter-influences but not tone-influences: colours were determined by either the initial letter (for 2 non-native speakers) or vowel (for 1 native- speaker), or were unrelated to any feature (tested for the remainder). We discuss these findings in relationship to native vs. non-native speakers, and English vs. Chinese systems The Neuronal Correlate of Bi-directional Synaesthesia Roi Cohen Kadosh1,2, Kathrin Cohen Kadosh2,3, and Avishai Henik3 1 Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK The neuronal correlate of a rare explicit bi-directional synaesthesia was investigated using both functional magnetic resonance imaging and event-related potentials, with numerical and physical size comparison tasks. I.S., a digit-colour synaesthete, showed a similar congruity effect for both tasks at the behavioural level. However, different brain areas were recruited for each task, at different time windows. The results support: 1) the genuineness of bi-directional synaesthesia at the neuronal level, 2) the possibility that discrepancy in the neuronal correlate of synaesthesia between previous studies might be task related, and 3) the possibility that synaesthesia might not be a unitary phenomenon. Implicit versus explicit interference effects in a number-colour synaesthete Ilaria Berteletti1 , Edward M. Hubbard2 and Marco Zorzi3 1Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Padova, Italy In this study, a number-colour synaesthete was tested with two personalized Stroop tasks: a digit Stroop and a numerosity Stroop. For the numerosity Stroop task dot patterns could be either canonical (dice) or non-canonical. For both tasks, stimuli were coloured congruently or incongruently with NM’s elicited colour (photism) for the corresponding digit. Instructions were to name as quickly as possible the ink colour. Crucially, NM reported perceiving photisms only for digits. Results show a congruency effect in both Stroop tasks although this was stronger for the digit Stroop. Moreover, in the numerosity Stroop task, it was predicted that if the locus of the phenomenon was at a perceptual level, only canonical patterns (over-learned configurations) would generate interference. However, if the colours were elicited at a semantic level, interference would be expected for both pattern configurations (canonical and non-canonical). NM’s results showed interference for both kinds of stimuli, although the effect was significantly stronger for (canonical) dice patterns. Overall, results suggests that interference may occur without explicit photism report and that, at least for NM, synaesthesia for numbers is evoked at a conceptual level since both canonical an non-canonical dot patterns are subject to interference. Results of a whole-genome screen for susceptibility genes linked to synaesthesia J. E. Asher1,2 J. A. Lamb1, S. Baron-Cohen2, A. P. Monaco1 1Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford, United Kingdom Synaesthesia, a neurological condition affecting between 0.05 and 3% of the population, is characterised by anomalous sensory perception: a stimulus in one sensory modality triggers an automatic, instantaneous, consistent response in another modality (e.g. sound evokes colour) or in a different aspect of the same modality (e.g. black text evokes colour). Growing evidence links synaesthesia to cognitive dysfunction; dyslexia, dyscalculia and cognitive interference from synaesthetic experiences have been reported. Conversely, anecdotal and experimental evidence has linked synaesthesia to enhanced recall and absolute musical pitch. Family studies have shown evidence of a strong underlying genetic predisposition with > 40% prevalence among first-degree relatives of synaesthetes and greater risk to female than to male relatives. Although previous studies have suggested that synaesthesia a single-gene condition with an X-linked dominant mode of inheritance, our work has revealed that synaesthesia is a complex condition involving multiple genes. The results of a completed whole-genome screen using 400 microsatellite markers will be reported. Synaesthesia in Individuals with More than One Variant J. Simner1 and E.M. Hubbard2 1 Psychology, University of Edinburgh, UK This study examines the interaction between two types of synaesthesia within the same individual: grapheme-colour synaesthesia (the association of colours to letters/numbers) and ordinal linguistic personification (OLP; the association of gender/personality to letters/numbers/days). By examining individuals with more than one variant we aim to show that features of different synaesthesias interact at unconscious levels. Previous ‘Stroop-type’ studies have shown that synaesthetes have difficulty naming the font-colour of a letter while ignoring its synaesthetic colour (e.g. slower naming of green font for synaesthetically red letters). In our tasks, the synaesthete responded to letters on a screen, stating either their font colour, or their OLP gender. Even though gender and colour are not consciously linked for this synaesthete, we found that her gender-responses were dependent on the font-colour, and that her colour-responses were dependent on the letter-gender. Hence, our studies suggest that synaesthetic variants interact and that their concurrents can become implicitly connected without mediation from inducing stimuli. We interpret these findings in light of recent developmental data showing protracted heterochronous neuronal development in humans, which continues through adolescence in parietal, frontal and perisylvian areas. Locke's Studious Blind Man Simon O'Sullivan A reference is found in John Locke’s Essay on Human Understanding of 1690 to a blind man who said that the colour scarlet was like the sound of a trumpet, and who was identified in 1810 as the mathematician Nicholas Saunderson. Although the first medical report of synaesthesia appeared in 1812, Locke’s blind man has been claimed to be the first case of coloured hearing. My paper will examine the historical evidence to show that Locke’s blind man could not have been Nicholas Saunderson and that Locke was neither proposing nor denying the existence of synaesthesia. His example of the blind man does, however, explain why synaesthetic sense-perception is impossible for anyone who is not a genuine synaesthete. Synaesthesia and Learning: Insights from Neuronal Modeling Oren Shriki1,2, Yaniv Sadeh2 and Avi Libster3 1 The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel This study concerns various scenarios for the evolution of synaesthesia-like behavior in a neuronal network model. The model is composed of two network modules representing two brain areas that process information from different sensory modalities. We allow for recurrent connectivity among the neurons within each module and between the modules. The evolution of the synaptic interactions in the network is governed by learning rules that optimise the information representation of the external sensory inputs. In the beginning, the cross-talk connections are set to near zero. During learning, the network is presented with input samples of certain statistical characteristics. When the inputs to the network modules are uncorrelated, typically no cross-talk connections evolve. However, under certain conditions they develop and synaesthesia-like behavior emerges. For instance, increasing the plasticity of the network may cause instability of the learning dynamics which in turn results in the formation of cross-talk interactions and in synaesthetic behavior. This may provide insights regarding developmental synaesthesia at young ages, at which the brain is more plastic. Sensory deprivation of one module also drives the evolution of cross-talk connections. This outcome is analogous to various forms of acquired neurological synaesthesia, e.g. as a result of visual scotoma. We are also studying the temporal induction of synaesthesia by hallucinatory drugs. The effect of a drug is simulated by scaling up the strength of the synaptic interactions. The study may provide an initial framework for associating various routes for the evolution of synaesthesia with certain aspects of learning and adaptation. Mirror-Touch Synaesthesia and Empathy Michael J Banissy and Jamie Ward Department of Psychology, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK Previous studies have indicated evidence of a tactile mirror-system in which actual and observed touch results in activity in similar areas of primary and secondary somatosensory cortices. For some people, with ‘mirror touch’ synaesthesia, this can produce a felt tactile sensation on the observer’s body (Blakemore et al, 2005). Using a new behavioural paradigm we provide evidence for the authenticity of this form of synaesthesia and show that mirror touch synaesthetes score higher on measures of empathy. Participants were requested to detect the site of actual touch while ignoring observed touch (and the synaesthetic touch induced from it). Consistent with self-reports, mirror touch synaesthetes were significantly faster at identifying a site touched on their own body when observed touch to another person was congruent with their synaesthetic experiences compared to incongruent trials. Furthermore, mirror touch synaesthetes showed heightened scores on the emotional reactivity subscale of the empathy quotient compared to controls. These findings are consistent with the notion that we empathise with others through a process of simulation. Blakemore, S. J., Bristow, D., Bird, G., Frith, C., & Ward, J. (2005). Somatosensory activations during the observation of touch and a case of vision-touch synaesthesia. Brain, 128, 1571-1583. Synaesthesia and Number in Children Jennifer Green and Usha Goswami Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK Many synaesthetes report having difficulty with arithmetic, whilst others report that their synaesthetic correspondences actually help them to deal with numbers, by aiding their memories of mathematic formulas, for instance. There is evidence to suggest that the colours experienced by number-colour synaesthetes are in some way connected to number concept, yet it is unclear how colour and numerical information interact at the level of basic number processing. Recent work with adult synaesthetes suggests that, contrary to earlier thinking, number-colour synaesthesia can occur bi-directionally such that colour can activate numerical representations. In this talk I will discuss research carried out with synaesthetic children for my master's project, examining the effects of synaesthetic colour (photisms) on basic number processing. This work suggests that photisms are triggered automatically in children as they are in adults, and may have consequences for some children's performance on basic number tasks, such as determining which of two numbers is larger. Individual Differences In Grapheme-Colour Synaesthesia: A Normal Lifespan Neurodevelopment? Richard Skelton, Casimir Ludwig, Iain Gilchrist, Christine Mohr University of Bristol, Department of Experimental Psychology, Bristol, UK In contrast to self-reported stability of subtypic experiences, we found synaesthetes typical self-report classification of projector or associator synaesthesia to be seemingly contradictory and, upon retest, unreliable (see also Edquist et al., 2006; Esterman et al., 2006). Exploiting illustrations to clarify potentially ambiguous terminology, we devised the Grapheme-Colour Synaesthesia Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ-GC). Whilst this demonstrated significantly more reliable test-retest rating consistency, contradictory responses remained. That is, whilst one subcategory is consistently identified as more accurately reflecting an experience (e.g. associated), some simultaneously rate other experiential notions as also being applicable (e.g. projected). Due to projected colour experiences being more pervasive and perceptually intense, we consider these synaesthetes to represent a distinct subgroup, termed ‘intermediate projectors’. Accordingly, those rating the projected experience as the dominant reflection of their experience are considered ‘absolute projectors’. Ultimately, with investigations of individual differences becoming increasingly popular, the SEQ-GC provides an extremely accurate, inclusive and reliable representation of specific synaesthesic experiences. Motivated through our investigations of individual differences, we integrate numerous anecdotal, behavioural, and neuroimaging findings to present an original theoretical account of the potential neurological causes, development and subsequent differential manifestations of grapheme-colour synaesthesia. Principally, this details how differential expressions are potentially a typical consequence of synaesthetes lifespan development, by encompassing three primary elements; 1) the projected synaesthesic experience, 2) the pervasive associations formed as a consequence of this experience, and 3) how such associations transpire to become the dominant experience in associator synaesthetes, as a consequence of delayed synaptic pruning. Through detailing such accounts, we highlight numerous other, previously unconsidered, theoretical questions. The effect of colour on visual mental imagery abilities of grapheme-colour synaesthetes: the importance of individual differences Mary Jane Spiller, Ashok S Jansari, and Andy Burton University of East London, School of Psychology Recent research has shown the importance of individual phenomenological and behavioural differences to our understanding of grapheme-colour synaesthesia, as has been emphasised in a recently proposed model of these differences (Ward et al, 2007). Most studies to date have explored differences in visual perception of graphemes. However it is also important to consider the different factors that can influence the synaesthetic experience elicited from a visual mental image of an inducer. In the current study a sample of 4 grapheme-colour synaesthetes have completed a battery of visual mental imagery tests which explore the effect of stimulus and background colour on visual mental imagery. These tests have examined different aspects of mental imagery such as the formation and inspection of an image and its mental rotation. Non-synaesthete matched controls (10 per synaesthete) have also completed these tests for comparison. The results show an interesting difference in effect of colour between synaesthetes and controls, from synaesthete to synaesthete, and also within individual synaesthetes across the different tasks. The findings are discussed in relation to our understanding of the importance of individual differences in synaesthesia, and the possible role of strategy and task effects in the resulting synaesthetic experience. Anatomically Constrained Cross-Activation: A Grand Unified Theory of Synesthesia Edward M. Hubbard1, Julia Simner2 and Jamie Ward3 1 INSERM Unit 562 Cognitive Neuroimaging, Orsay France In 2001 Ramachandran and Hubbard proposed that grapheme-colour synesthesia might be due to a genetic mutation that leads to incomplete pruning between adjacent grapheme selective regions and colour sensitive region V4 (the "cross-activation" theory). Here, we review subsequent research which has suggested specific neural correlates for other forms of synesthesia, to evaluate how well the cross-activation theory generalizes. Some examples suggest that the cross-activation theory can be successfully extended to other forms of synesthesia. For example, Hubbard et al. (2005) have suggested that number forms may arise from cross-activation between numerical and spatial regions in the parietal cortex, Simner and Hubbard (2006) have suggested that ordinal linguistic personification from cross-activation between ordinal sequence and personality representations in the inferior parietal lobule, and Ward, Simner, Ayeung (2003) have suggested that lexical-gustatory synesthesia from cross-activation between lexical representations in the superior temporal sulcus and gustatory cortex in the insula. However, other forms of synesthesia may require a more complex model. Given that even with auditory input, synesthetic colors are often sensitive to graphemic representations (see Simner, 2006 for a review), we suggest that auditory word to colour synesthesia may arise through a two stage process, in which auditory sounds activate grapheme regions, which in turn activate V4. Currently no such models exist for pure tone-color synesthesia or emotion-color synesthesia, making these interesting future test-cases of the model. Based on its success in explaining many forms of synesthesia, we suggest that anatomically constrained cross-activation may constitute a Grand Unified Theory of Synesthesia. Does Synesthesia Affect Non-synesthetic Sensory Experience? Katherine Gimmestad & Christopher T. Lovelace Department of Psychology, University of Missouri – Kansas City Although much research has examined what perceptual phenomena constitute synesthesia, there is little research as to whether synesthesia may affect non-synesthetic sensory experience. Our first question was whether people who experience colors as part of their synesthetic experiences (color synesthetes) would perform better in a color discrimination task than synesthetes who do not experience colors as part of their synesthetic experiences (no-color synesthetes) or non-synesthete controls. We administered a standard test of color discrimination ability (Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue test) to 10 color synesthetes, 2 no-color synesthetes, and 19 non-synesthete controls. Indeed, we found that color synesthetes did significantly better on the color discrimination task than no-color synesthetes and non-synesthete controls. In addition, people who experience synesthesia often describe their experiences as being strongly vivid and detailed. We were interested in whether these synesthetic experiences would affect the reported strength of vividness of their visual imagery. We administered a standard imagery scale (Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire) to 12 synesthetes and 10 non-synesthete controls. Synesthetes reported slightly stronger overall vividness of visual imagery than non-synesthetes, but this was not a statistically reliable difference. Synaesthesia on the Stage: David Hockney's Opera Design Isadora Olivé ATI -Université Vincennes Saint Denis – Paris 8, LPPA – Collège de France, 11 place Marcelin-Berthelot – 75231 Paris cedex 5 The English artist David Hockney (1937-… ) is frequently quoted as being a synaesthete. More specifically, it’s attributed to him the capacity of “experiencing complex visions when he listens to music” [1]. The aim of the present study is to analyze Hockney’s Opera Design in order to try to determine what in such intricate constructs is inserted in a long term career aesthetic researches, what would correspond and respond to the specific needs of the theatrical medium, and finally, if hopefully possible, try to identify what exactly in his work would be attributable to his synaesthetic gifts. In this way, we hope to give a small contribution to the understanding of how synaesthetic experience conditions perception, as exemplified by such a rich process of artistic creation. 1. Hockney. Collection Connaissance des Arts. Numéro hors-série, ISSN 1242-9198; 131. Paris, Société Française de Promotion Artistique, 1999. The Sound of Silence Lidell Simpson, Composer; Ridgeland, Mississippi I have profound sensorioneural nerve deafness since birth. I did not start wearing hearing aids until I was 5. I have vision to sound, touch to sound synesthesia which are the most prominent form. I also have to a lesser degree, smell to sound, taste to sound, body motion to sound synesthesia. In effect, just about all of my sensory perception has a sound counterpart. Even emotions gets translated to sound. And not so infrequently, certain techno music caused me to see blue blobs projected and certain sounds of music also get translated into sense of touch. After a well received presensation of Dancing Lights as my first installment of my series of original works of The Sound of Silence I present my second and third installments in the series. This is my representation of what I called Neurochill Trance. The music empasised the vision/touch to sound synesthesia shown on an another level. I have for years had suffered debilitating migraines which was finally halted Ketamine. The first track is called Migraine showing what the migraines and resulting seizure I would get sounded like. The second track titled Neuromancy Railway which was inspired by my many train trips in Germany when I lived there one Summer. A lot of it is based on the my syn sounds I hear riding on the train and looking out the window. Synaesthesia does not enable extraordinary speed of visual search Danko Nikolić1,2, Philipp Lichti1 and Wolf Singer1,2 1Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research Triggered Perceptions and Visual Priming in Grapheme-Colour Synaesthesia Catherine M. Mulvenna, Neil Muggleton and Vincent Walsh University College London When grapheme-colour synaesthetes are presented with letters and/or digits they demonstrate internal activation of colour sensitive area V4 which corresponds to their behavioural reports of colour experiences. While the perceptual robustness of these photisms has been demonstrated, the costs or benefits of such internally generated visual experiences on attention and cognition are not fully understood. Previous studies have shown colour-priming effects during explicit colour-naming tasks but in order to estimate the affects on daily mental tasks, investigations need to address tasks which do not focus on semantic colour-naming and/or the synaesthetic experience itself. Here, using a variation of a colour-priming paradigm, priming effects from the synaesthetic colour experience were investigated with a new approach. Results revealed a strong dichotomy in the effect of synaesthetic colours: Firstly, a significant positive priming effect even in non-colour related cognitive judgements and, secondly, the elimination of this effect when synaesthetes were instructed to consciously ignore any activation of synaesthetic colours, in a counterbalanced design. This effect is discussed both in relation to synaesthetes' high prevalence and high functionality, and whether these results reveal conscious control of perceptual awareness or of cross-sensory activation at the cortical level. Colour-opponency in synaesthetic experiences Philipp Lichti1 Wolf Singer1,2, and Danko Nikolić1,2 1Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research If the experiences in grapheme-colour synaesthesia are associated with vivid and realistic perceptions of colour, one can expect that these experiences involve opponent colour channels in the visual cortex (red/green or blue/yellow). By using a Stroop task, we show that this is true. Synaesthetic colours interfere with the naming of the real colour of a grapheme only if the real colour is opponent to the synaesthetic colour (green versus red or blue versus yellow), but not or very little if synaesthetic and real colours are represented by different colour channels (e.g., synaesthetic blue and real red). No such dependence on colour-opponency was found for semantic conflicts between shape and colour (e.g., a blue lemon). These results indicate that the neuronal representation of synaesthetic colours resembles closely that of real perceived colours.
|
