Are synesthetes exceptional beyond their synesthetic associations? A systematic comparison of creativity, personality, cognition, and mental imagery in synesthetes and controls

Bibliographic Data

ID5268545
AuthorsCharlotte A Chun (0000-0002-3132-1638, Brain and Cognition Research Center (CerCo) University of Toulouse Paul Sabatier and National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) Toulouse France, corresponding author), Jean‐michel Hupé (0000-0003-1144-9455, Brain and Cognition Research Center (CerCo) University of Toulouse Paul Sabatier and National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) Toulouse France)
Year2016
Volume107
Issue3
Pages397-418
Publication date2016-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1269 • E-ISSN: 2044-8295
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/bjop.12146
PMID26346432
OpenAlexW2145647982
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited46

Synesthesia has historically been linked with enhanced creativity, but this had never been demonstrated in a systematically recruited sample. The current study offers a broad examination of creativity, personality, cognition, and mental imagery in a small sample of systematically recruited synesthetes and controls (n = 65). Synesthetes scored higher on some measures of creativity, personality traits of absorption and openness, and cognitive abilities of verbal comprehension and mental imagery. The differences were smaller than those reported in the literature, indicating that previous studies may have overestimated group differences, perhaps due to biased recruitment procedures. Nonetheless, most of our results replicated literature findings, yielding two possibilities: (1) our study was influenced by similar biases, or (2) differences between synesthetes and controls, though modest, are robust across recruitment methods. The covariance among our measures warrants interpretation of these differences as a pattern of associations with synesthesia, leaving open the possibility that this pattern could be explained by differences on a single measured trait, or even a hidden, untested trait. More generally, this study highlights the difficulty of comparing groups of people in psychology, not to mention neuropsychology and neuroimaging studies. The requirements discussed here - systematic recruitment procedures, large battery of tests, and large cohorts - are best fulfilled through collaborative efforts and cumulative science

Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Creativity · Developmental psychology · Mental image · Personality · Aesthetic Perception and Analysis · Color perception and design · Multisensory perception and integration · Neuroscience · Psychology · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access