How perceptual ability shapes memory
Tue—Casino_1.801—Poster2—5311
Presented by: Chhavi Sachdeva
The enhanced processing account suggests a connection between visual perceptual ability and memory. This notion is supported by studies on special populations, such as grapheme-color synesthetes and color experts, whose abilities are associated with neural changes in the ventral visual pathway. Studies have shown that these groups exhibit a distinctive profile of enhanced memory and perception, particularly when stimuli favor processing in the ventral rather than the dorsal visual pathway. Previous research suggests that grapheme-color synesthetes and color experts perform similarly, compared to non-synesthetic controls, on tasks involving color perception, spatial contrast sensitivity, and memory for color information. However, complementary predictions of the enhanced processing account regarding populations with neural changes in the dorsal visual pathway remain unexplored. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive assessment of the enhanced processing account using three tasks: visual perception, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Participants consisted of individuals with grapheme-color synesthesia, color expertise, sequence-space synesthesia, or spatial expertise. This allowed us to distinguish the effects of these groups on perception and memory. The experiment used two types of stimuli: one designed to bias processing toward the ventral visual pathway (color stimuli) and another toward the dorsal visual pathway (spatial stimuli). This design allows for the examination of double dissociations in synesthetic experiences, thereby elucidating the unique contributions of the ventral and dorsal pathways. Preliminary results will be presented and discussed in the context of representational models of perception and memory.
Keywords: Synesthesia, Expertise, Visual perception, Memory, Enhanced processing account