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Background Color-Grapheme Associations in Non-Synesthetes: Evidence of Emotional Mediation Christopher Lau 1 , Karen B. Schloss 2 , David M. Eagleman 3 , and Stephen E. Palmer 2 1 College of Natural Resources, UC Berkeley; 2 Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley; 3 Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine Similarities Among Non-synesthetes and Synesthetes Conclusions References and Acknowledgements General Methods Colors of Graphemes Do Emotions Mediate Color-Grapheme Associations? As predicted by the Emotional Mediation Hypothesis: There is a clear mapping between the emotional content of graphemes and the emotional content of the colors chosen to go with those graphemes in non-synesthetes. Although there are large individual differences in color grapheme associations among both synesthetes and non-synesthetes, there are shared systematic effects of saturation and lightness among both groups. Future research: Does the emotional mediation hypothesis hold for synesthetes? In non-synesthetes, colors are associated with graphemes that share similar emotional content (e.g., happy graphemes are associated with happy colors). Eagleman, D. M. (in preparation). A large-scale analysis of color associations in colored sequence synesthesia. Rich, A. N., J. L. Bradshaw, and J. B. Mattingley. "A Systematic, Large-scale Study of Synaesthesia: Implications for the Role of Early Experience in Lexical-colour Associations." Cognition 98 (2005): 53-84. Schloss, K. B., Lawler, P. & Palmer, S. E. (VSS-2008). “The Color of Music.” Presented at the 8th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, May 2008. Simner, J., J. Ward, M. Lanz, A. Jansari, K. Noonan, L. Glover, and D. Oakley. "Non-random Associations of Graphemes and Colour in the Synaesthetic and Normal Populations." Cognitive Neuropsychology 22 (2005): 1069-085. Xu, Z., Schloss, K.B. & Palmer, S.E. (VSS-2010). “The Color of Faces.” Presented at the 10th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, May 2010. Acknowledgements We thank Rosa Poggesi, Brian Alvarez, Thomas Langlois, Arielle Younger, Mathilde Heinemann, Madison Zeller, and Joseph Austerweil. This research was funded by the National Science Foundation grant (#BCS-0745820) to Stephen Palmer and a gift from Google. Color-Grapheme Associations (CGA) were calculated for each grapheme in terms of the emotional dimensions (D) of the five colors that were most consistent with the grapheme (C) and the five that were most inconsistent with the grapheme (I). Color-Grapheme Associations Berkeley Color Project (BCP) 37 colors presented beside each grapheme (26 letters, 9 numbers). Tasks: 1) Click the 5 most consistent colors with the grapheme starting with the most consistent 2) Click the 5 most inconsistent colors with the grapheme starting with the most inconsistent Graphemes presented one at a time with a bipolar emotional scale. Tasks: Rate emotional content of each grapheme (blocked by emotional dimension): happy-sad active-passive angry-calm strong-weak good-evil Grapheme-Emotion Associations Color-Emotion Associations BCP-37 colors presented one at a time with a bipolar emotional scale Tasks: Rate emotional content of each color (blocked by emotional dimension): happy-sad active-passive angry-calm strong-weak good-evil Happy Sad A Happy Sad A -50 -100 100 0 50 -50 0 50 100 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 F H J 2 4 6 Yellowness-Blueness Graphemes that are associated with similar colors among synesthetes and non-synesthetes tend to be the “desaturated” (grayish) graphemes Eagleman (in preparation) showed that, although synesthetes have idiosyncratic color-grapheme pairings, the distance between pairs of graphemes is correlated across subjects. Do non-synesthetes show similar effects (i.e., correlated distances for grapheme pairs)? -100 0 100 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 CGA -100 0 100 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Grapheme Emotion CGA -100 0 100 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Grapheme Emotion CGA -100 0 100 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Grapheme Emotion CGA Grapheme Emotion Avg. r = .38* Avg. r = .49** Avg. r = .63*** Avg. r = .58*** ID r = .08* ID r = .06 ID r = .06* ID r = .16*** Redness-Greenness Chromaticity Saturation and Lightness 25 50 75 100 -20 -100 -10 0 10 20 30 100 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Saturation Lightness For synesthetes and non-synesthetes, graphemes have similar saturations (r=.58***) and lightnesses (r=.49**). 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 35 45 55 65 75 85 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Saturation Lightness As in verbal descriptions of colors (Rich et al., 2005; Simner et al., 2005), ‘G’ was greenish, ‘A’ was reddish ‘Y’ was yellowish, and ‘B’ was bluish, although there were large individual differences. Prior research on verbal color-grapheme associations in non-synesthetes: Non-synesthetes tend to have similar associations between graphemes and colors, as tested using color name association tasks (e.g., Rich, Bradshaw, & Mattingley, 2005; Simner et al., 2005). Linguistic explanation: The first letter of a color name is paired with its color (e.g., ‘G’ for green). The first letter of a strongly associated colored object is paired with the objects’ color (e.g., ‘A’ is red because of associations with apples). Will such associations hold for a non-verbal color-association task? Does the emotional mediation hypothesis hold for less emotionally expressive stimuli, such as graphemes? ‘X’ and ‘Z’ were desaturated and dark. ‘0’ (zero) was desaturated and light. Note that ‘O’ was more saturated (p<.01) and darker than ‘0’ (p=.07), even though they have similar shapes. Saturation and Lightness of Graphemes Among Synesthetes (Eagleman, in prep) G Y B X I A Angry-Calm Strong-Weak Active-Passive Good-Evil Schloss, Lawler, and Palmer (VSS-08): When choosing the colors that “go best” with orchestral music, participants choose the colors that best matched the emotional content of the music. Choose the color whose emotional content best matches that of the stimulus Evaluate emotional content of the stimulus Experience the stimulus The Emotional Mediation Hypothesis: When choosing colors to go with an emotional stimulus in a different modality, people choose the colors that best match the emotional content of that stimulus. Schloss, Lawler & Palmer (VSS-08) Xu, Schloss & Palmer (VSS-10) Choose the color whose emotional content best matches that of the grapheme Evaluate emotional content of the grapheme A 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 AB AC AD AE AF AG AH AI AJ AK AL AM AN AP AQ AR AS AT AU AV AW AY A2 A3 A A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 BC BD BE BF BG BH BI BJ BK BL BM BN BP BQ BR BS BT BU BV BW BY B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 CD CE CF CG CH CI CJ CK CL CM CN CP CQ CR CS CT CU CV CW CY C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 DE DF DG DH DI DJ DK DL DM DN DP DQ DR DS DT DU DV DW DY D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 EF EG EH EI EJ EK EL EM EN EP EQ ER ES ET EU EV EWEY E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 FG FH FI FJ FK FL FM FN FP FQ FR FS FT FU FV FW FY F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 GHGI GJ GK GL GM GN GP GQ GR GS GT GU GV GW GY G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 HI HJ HK HL HM HN HP HQ HR HS HT HU HV HW HY H2 H3 H4 H5 H6 H7 H8 H9 IJ IK IL IM IN IP IQ IR IS IT IU IV IW IY I2 I3 I4 I5 I6 I7 I8 I9 JK JL JM JN JP JQ JR JS JT JU JV JW JY J2 J3 J4 J5 J6 J7 J8 J9 KL KM KN KP KQ KR KS KT KU KV KW KY K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 K8 K9 LM LN LP LQ LR LS LT LU LV LW LY L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 L9 MN MP MQ MR MS MT MU MV MW MY M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 NP NQ NR NS NT NU NV NW NY N2 N3 N4 N5 N6 N7 N8 N9 PQ PR PS PT PU PV PW PY P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 QR QS QT QU QV QW QY Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 RS RT RU RV RW RY R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 ST SU SV SW SY S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 TU TV TW TY T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 UV UW UY U2 U3 U4 U5 U6 U7 U8 U9 VW VY V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 WY W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 34 35 36 37 38 39 45 46 47 48 49 56 57 58 59 67 68 69 78 79 89 AO AX AZ A0 A1 BO BX BZ B0 B1 CO CX CZ C0 C1 DO DX DZ D0 D1 EO EX EZ E0 E1 FO FX FZ F0 F1 GO GX GZ G0 G1 HO HX HZ H0 H1 IO IX IZ I0 I1 JO JX JZ J0 J1 KO KX KZ K0 K1 LO LX LZ L0 L1 MO MX MZ M0 M1 NO NX NZ N0 N1 OP OQ OR OS OT OU OV OW OX OY OZ O0 O1 O2 O3 O4 O5 O6 O7 O8 O9 PX PZ P0 P1 QX QZ Q0 Q1 RX RZ R0 R1 SX SZ S0 S1 TX TZ T0 T1 UX UZ U0 U1 VX VZ V0 V1 WX WZ W0 W1 XY XZ X0 X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7 X8 X9 YZ Y0 Y1 Z0 Z1 Z2 Z3 Z4 Z5 Z6 Z7 Z8 Z9 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Distances between Grapheme Pairs for Synesthetes Distances between Grapheme Pairs for Non-Synesthetes All pairs r = .44*** Only desaturated graphemes r = .47*** No desaturated graphemes r = .20*** Average Distance (CIELAB) between Each Pair of Graphemes for Synesthetes vs. Non-synesthetes Calm Angry Calm Angry Strong Weak Strong Weak Active Passive Active Passive Good Evil Good Evil C D = (5c 1,D + 4c 2,D + 3c 3,D + 2c 4,D + c 5,D )/5 I D = (5i 1,D +4i 2,D +3i 3,D +2i 4,D + i 5,D )/5 CGA D = C D - I D most consistent color most inconsistent color -100 0 100 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 CGA HS Grapheme Emotion Avg. r = .81*** ID r = .16*** Happy-Sad Happy Sad Happy Sad Experience the grapheme Computing CGAs Participants: 42 non-synesthetes, as determined by the www.synesthete.org initial questionnaire.
