Synaesthesia as a Model for Assessing Individual Differences in Visual Perception and Memory Performanceuse asterix (*) to get italics

Emily Whelan, Chhavi Sachdeva, Rebecca Ovalle-Fresa, Nicolas Rothen and Jamie WardPlease use the format "First name initials family name" as in "Marie S. Curie, Niels H. D. Bohr, Albert Einstein, John R. R. Tolkien, Donna T. Strickland"

2023

<p>In this study, the cognitive profile of synaesthesia (a perceptual condition in which primary experiences, such as perceiving digits or words, elicit extra secondary sensations) is used as a model system to assess visual perceptual abilities and memory performance in the general population. Synaesthesia serves as a suitable framework for examining variations in visual perception and visual memory among individuals, as it has been associated with visual perception and memory advantages. We compare the cognitive profile of three groups: synaesthetes, non-synaesthetic relatives of synaesthetes, and non-synaesthetic non-relative controls. We use measures of visual perception and performance on short and long-term memory tasks with colour and location manipulations to derive a detailed and multivariate profile of each group. A key strength of our approach is that perception and memory tasks are perfectly matched in terms of generating the same dependent variable. We also assess mental imagery, cognitive style, and motivation using questionnaires. We expect our work to further develop theories on the relationship between perceptual ability and memory performance and to elucidate whether synaesthesia is epiphenomenal or functionally related to different or enhanced cognitive processes.</p>

Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Perception, Memory, Synaesthesia

NonePlease indicate the methods that may require specialised expertise during the peer review process (use a comma to separate various required expertises).

Social sciences

Janina Neufeld suggested: Christopher Sinke, sinke.christopher@mh-hannover.de, Tessa van Leeuwen suggested: Janina Neufeld (janina.neufeld@ki.se), Janina Neufeld suggested: Helena Melero, hmelero@ucm.es No need for them to be recommenders of PCI Registered Reports. Please do not suggest reviewers for whom there might be a conflict of interest. Reviewers are not allowed to review preprints written by close colleagues (with whom they have published in the last four years, with whom they have received joint funding in the last four years, or with whom they are currently writing a manuscript, or submitting a grant proposal), or by family members, friends, or anyone for whom bias might affect the nature of the review - see the code of conduct

2023-11-07 13:02:39

Reshanne Reeder