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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Measuring Sensitivity to Viewpoint Change with and without Stereoscopic Cues
Published on: December 5, 2013
Not all synaesthetes are created equal: projector versus associator synaesthetes
Mike J Dixon1, Daniel Smilek, Philip M Merikle
1Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1 Canada. mjdixon@watarts.uwaterloo.ca
Abstract:
In synaesthesia, ordinary stimuli elicit extraordinary experiences. When grapheme-color synaesthetes view black text, each grapheme elicits a photism-a highly specific experience of color. Importantly, some synaesthetes (projectors) report experiencing their photisms in external space, whereas other synaesthetes (associators) report experiencing their photisms "in the mind's eye." We showed that projectors and associators can be differentiated not only by their subjective reports, but also by their performance on Stroop tasks. Digits were presented in colors that were either congruent or incongruent with the synaesthetes' photisms. The synaesthetes named either the video colors of the digits or the colors of the photisms elicited by the digits. The results revealed systematic differences in the patterns of Stroop interference between projectors and associators. Converging evidence from first-person reports and third-person objective measures of Stroop interference establish the projector/ associator distinction as an important individual difference in grapheme-color synaesthesia.
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