Validating a standardised test battery for synesthesia: Does the Synesthesia Battery reliably detect synesthesia?

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology

Background:

• Synesthesia is a neurological condition involving unusual sensory experiences.
• Long-term consistency testing is the standard for synesthesia diagnosis.
• Eagleman's online Synesthesia Battery (2007) assesses synesthesia within a single session.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate the online Synesthesia Battery against conventional long-term testing.
• To determine the prevalence of grapheme-colour synesthesia in the general population.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 2847 participants for The Synesthesia Battery.
• Assessed consistency of synesthetic experiences within a single session.
• Compared results to established long-term assessment methods.

Main Results:

• Prevalence of grapheme-colour synesthesia was found to be 1.2%.
• This prevalence aligns with previous estimates from long-term testing.
• The Synesthesia Battery demonstrated consistent results with traditional methods.

Conclusions:

• The Synesthesia Battery is a valid tool for assessing synesthesia.
• The online battery provides reliable prevalence data for grapheme-colour synesthesia.
• This study validates a widely used, time-efficient synesthesia assessment tool.