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Turning univalent stimuli bivalent: Synesthesia can cause cognitive conflict in task switching
Beat Meier1, Alodie Rey-Mermet, Nicolas Rothen
1a Institute of Psychology and Center for Learning, Memory, and Cognition , University of Bern , Bern , Switzerland.
Cognitive Neuroscience
|March 10, 2015
Summary
Synesthetic colors, triggered by graphemes, influenced cognitive conflict adaptation less than real colors. This suggests differences in how synesthetes and controls manage color conflict.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Cognitive conflict adaptation is crucial for efficient task switching.
- Synesthesia involves experiencing sensory information through multiple senses, like seeing colors when reading letters.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if synesthetic color experiences affect cognitive conflict adaptation similarly to real colors.
- To examine the bivalency effect of synesthetic colors in a task-switching paradigm.
Main Methods:
- A task-switching experiment was conducted with 24 synesthetes and two control groups.
- Participants performed color, form, and size decision tasks, with occasional black graphemes presented for size decisions.
Main Results:
- Black graphemes successfully triggered synesthetic color experiences, creating bivalent stimuli.
- The bivalency effect was less pronounced for synesthetic colors compared to real colors.
Conclusions:
- Synesthetic colors have a weaker impact on cognitive conflict adaptation than real colors.
- Differences in color conflict processing may exist between synesthetes and controls.
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