Synesthetic grapheme-color percepts exist for newly encountered Hebrew, Devanagari, Armenian and Cyrillic graphemes
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Updated: May 9, 2026

Training Synesthetic Letter-color Associations by Reading in Color
Published on: February 20, 2014
Christopher David Blair1, Marian E Berryhill
1Department of Psychology, Program in Cognitive and Brain Science, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, United States.
Abstract:
Grapheme-color synesthetes experience color, not physically present, when viewing symbols. Synesthetes cannot remember learning these associations. Must synesthetic percepts be formed during a sensitive period? Can they form later and be consistent? What determines their nature? We tested grapheme-color synesthete, MC2, before, during and after she studied Hindi abroad. We investigated whether novel graphemes elicited synesthetic percepts, changed with familiarity, and/or benefited from phonemic information. MC2 reported color percepts to novel Devanagari and Hebrew graphemes. MC2 monitored these percepts over 6months in a Hindi-speaking environment. MC2 and synesthete DN, reported synesthetic percepts for Armenian graphemes, or Cyrillic graphemes+phonemes over time. Synesthetes, not controls, reported color percepts for novel graphemes that gained consistency over time. Phonemic information did not enhance consistency. Thus, synesthetes can form and consolidate percepts to novel graphemes as adults. These percepts may depend on pre-existing grapheme-color relationships but they can flexibly shift with familiarity.
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