Effect of a Synesthete's Photisms on Name Recall

A multilingual, colored-letter synesthete professor (MLS), 9 nonsynesthete multilingual professors and 4 nonsynesthete art professors learned 30 names of individuals (first and last name pairs) in three trials. They recalled the names after each trial and six months later, as well as performed cued recall trials initially and after six months. As hypothesized, MLS recalled significantly more names than control groups on all free recall tests (except after the first trial) and on cued recall tests. In addition, MLS gave qualitatively different reasons for remembering names than any individual control participant. MLS gave mostly color reasons for remembering the names, whereas nonsynesthetes gave reasons based on familiarity or language or art knowledge. Results on standardized memory tests showed that MLS had average performance on non- language visual memory tests (the Benton Visual Retention Test-Revised – BURT-R – and the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test – CFT), but had superior memory performance on a verbal test consisting of lists of nouns (Rey Auditory- Verbal Learning Test – RAVLT). MLS's synesthesia seems to aid memory for visually or auditorily presented language stimuli (names and nouns), but not for non-language visual stimuli (simple and complex figures).