Abstract

Synesthesia is a rare neurological ability whereby people can interpret one stimulus by using multiple perceptions or cognitions. Synesthesia metaphor, on the other hand, is a synesthesiac feeling which most people have toward a target stimulus. The current study was conducted to determine if there is a synesthesia metaphor between vision and semantic processing. Chinese characters were used as visual stimuli for those unfamiliar with the symbols, and the English words that served as a prompt for the task were used as cognitive or semantic stimuli in this study. Fifty-eight students recruited from the Lindenwood participant Pool (LPP) were presented with an English word prompt and asked to choose one of two Chinese characters, presented as one which they thought matched the meaning of each English word on the computer screen. A chi-squared analysis was used to determine if the participants were able to correctly match the visual stimuli with the English words. The findings revealed that people are more likely to choose the correct Chinese characters than not. Thus, it was concluded that people have a synesthesia metaphor in vision and semantic procession.

Recommended Citation

Shinohara, Ai (2012) "Synesthesia Metaphor in Semantic Processing and Visual Perception," Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal: Vol. 1: Iss. 14, Article 9.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/psych_journals/vol1/iss14/9