54 research outputs found
Do Synesthetes Have a General Advantage in Visual Search and Episodic Memory? A Case for Group Studies
BACKGROUND: Some studies, most of them case-reports, suggest that synesthetes have an advantage in visual search and episodic memory tasks. The goal of this study was to examine this hypothesis in a group study. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In the present study, we tested thirteen grapheme-color synesthetes and we compared their performance on a visual search task and a memory test to an age-, handedness-, education-, and gender-matched control group. The results showed no significant group differences (all relevant ps>.50). For the visual search task effect sizes indicated a small advantage for synesthetes (Cohen's d between .19 and .32). No such advantage was found for episodic memory (Cohen's d<.05). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The results indicate that synesthesia per se does not seem to lead to a strong performance advantage. Rather, the superior performance of synesthetes observed in some case-report studies may be due to individual differences, to a selection bias or to a strategic use of synesthesia as a mnemonic. In order to establish universal effects of synesthesia on cognition single-case studies must be complemented by group studies
Cognitive control and parsing: Reexamining the role of Broca’s area in sentence comprehension
MEG evidence that the LIFG effect of object extraction requires similarity-based interference
Hemispheric specialization for the perception of speech sounds: The influence of intonation and structure
Mechanisms underlying syntactic comprehension deficits in vascular aphasia: new evidence from self-paced listening
Language-Related ERPs: Scalp Distributions and Modulation by Word Type and Semantic Priming
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