Behavorial Assessment of Synesthetic Perception: Color Perception and Visual Imagery in Synesthesia

This study examined vividness of visual mental imagery and color discrimination ability in synesthesia. It was hypothesized that participants with synesthesia would have higher overall scores on the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) and participants with colored synesthetic experiences would have lower Total Error Scores (TES) on the Farnsworth Munsell 100-Hue test (FM 100 test). Results revealed a significant difference between groups on the FM 100 test [F(2,28) = 2.67, p =.03], with participants with colored synesthetic perceptions having lower TES scores (M = 20.40) than synesthetes without colored concurrents (M = 34.00) and participants without synesthesia (M = 34.63). An independent samples t-test revealed no significant differences between synesthetes and nonsynesthetes and overall VVIQ scores [t(30) = -1.46, p=.16]. These results indicate that synesthetes with colored concurrents may have better color discrimination ability than non-synesthetes and synesthetes without colored concurrents.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology (UMKC)

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Missouri--Kansas City

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Gimmestad, Katherine Dawn

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lovelace, Christopher T.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10355/9033

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:mospace.umsystem.edu:10355/9033