Assessment of the hemispheric lateralization of grapheme-color synesthesia with Stroop-type tests

PloS One
Mathieu J Ruiz, Jean-Michel Hupé

Abstract

Grapheme-color synesthesia, the idiosyncratic, arbitrary association of colors to letters or numbers, develops in childhood once reading is mastered. Because language processing is strongly left-lateralized in most individuals, we hypothesized that grapheme-color synesthesia could be left-lateralized as well. We used synesthetic versions of the Stroop test with colored letters and numbers presented either in the right or the left visual field of thirty-four synesthetes. Interference by synesthetic colors was stronger for stimuli in the right hemifield (first experiment, color naming task). Synesthetes were also faster in the right hemifield when naming the synesthetic color of graphemes (second experiment). Overall, the lateralization effect was 7 ms (the 95% confidence interval was [1.5 12] ms), a delay compatible with an additional callosal transfer for stimuli presented in the left hemifield. Though weak, this effect suggests that the association of synesthetic colors to graphemes may be preferentially processed in the left hemisphere. We speculate that this left-lateralization could be a landmark of synesthetic grapheme-color associations, if not found for color associations learnt by non-synesthete adults.

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Citations

Apr 16, 2015·Frontiers in Human Neuroscience·Jean-Michel Hupé, Michel Dojat
May 10, 2020·The European Journal of Neuroscience·Mathieu J RuizJean-Michel Hupé
May 24, 2020·Consciousness and Cognition·Anahita Basirat, Jean-Michel Hupé
Jun 15, 2021·Cortex; a Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior·Laura LunguDevin B Terhune

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