Synaesthetic Consistency Spans Decades in a Lexical–Gustatory Synaesthete

Abstract

Developmental synaesthesia is typically characterised by the consistency of synaesthetic pairings, in that stimuli tend to generate the same synaesthetic responses over time (e.g., if A is red, it is always red). Although studies have illustrated consistency over many months and even several years, little is known about the longevity of reports outside the practical time-constraints of laboratory testing. Here we provide the first objective empirical evidence of synaesthetic consistency spanning from the 1970s to the current day (27 years) and use this longevity to identify the likely roots of such cross-modal associations.

Keywords:

• Consistency
• Cross-modal
• Memory
• Synesthesia
• Taste.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the author's Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship. We are grateful to JIW for his kind participation, and we would also like to thank Edward M. Hubbard and two anonymous reviewers for their comments.

Notes

¹We thank Edward M. Hubbard for bringing this argument to our atttention.

Simner, J., & Haywood, S. (under review). Tasty neighbours in non-word processing: Cognitive effects in lexical-gustatory synaesthesia.

Ward, J. (under review). Synaesthesia: An altered form of multi-sensory pattern completion.