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Updated: Aug 30, 2026

Training Synesthetic Letter-color Associations by Reading in Color
Published on: February 20, 2014
Synaesthetic photisms guide attention
Daniel Smilek1, Mike J Dixon, Philip M Merikle
1Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Ont., N2L 3G1, Waterloo, Canada. dsmilek@watarts.uwaterloo.ca
Abstract:
We evaluated whether synaesthetic colour experiences (i.e., photisms) guide or attract attention. An alphanumeric-colour synaesthete, J, and seven non-synaesthetes searched for target digits presented against backgrounds that were either congruent or incongruent with the colours of J's photisms for the target digits. For J, the slope of the search function for detecting the target digits on incongruent trials was shallower than the slope of the search function for detecting the target digits on congruent trials. In contrast, for the seven non-synaesthetes, the slopes of the search functions for detecting the target digits on congruent and incongruent trials were equivalent. These findings suggest that synaesthetic colour experiences influence the efficiency of visual search by guiding or attracting attention.
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