How Perceptual Ability Shapes Memory
Mon-H4-Talk 1-901
Presented by: Chhavi Sachdeva
The enhanced processing account suggests a closer connection between visual perceptual ability and memory than previously thought. This suggestion gains support from studies on special populations with experimental conditions based on neural changes in the ventral visual pathway, like grapheme-color synesthetes and color experts. Different studies reveal a unique profile of enhanced memory and perception in these groups, particularly when stimuli bias processing toward the ventral visual pathway in grapheme-color synesthesia, as opposed to the dorsal visual pathway. Past research indicates similar performance between grapheme-color synesthetes and color experts, compared to non-synesthetic controls, in tasks related to color perception, spatial contrast sensitivity, and memory for color information (Ovalle-Fresa et al., 2021). However, complementary predictions of the enhanced processing account regarding special populations with conditions based on neural changes in the dorsal visual pathway remain to be investigated. Thus, this study aims to comprehensively assess the enhanced processing account using three tasks, visual perceptual, short-term memory, and long-term memory. It will involve participants possessing characteristics of grapheme-color synesthesia, color expertise, sequence-space synesthesia, and/or spatial expertise to distinguish the impact of these four experimental conditions on perception and memory. The experiment will use two stimulus types, one biasing processing toward the ventral visual pathway (color stimuli) and the other biasing processing toward the dorsal visual pathway (location stimuli). This approach enables the examination of double dissociations between synesthetic experiences, elucidating the distinct contributions of the ventral and dorsal pathways. The results are discussed with regards to representational models of perception and memory.
Keywords: Synesthesia, Expertise, Visual perception, Memory, Enhanced processing account