Radvansky, Gabriel A., Bradley S. Gibson, and M. Windy McNerney. “Synesthesia and Memory: Color Congruency, Von Restorff, and False Memory Effects.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 37.1 (2010): 219-29. PsycARTICLES. Web. 27 Nov. 2014.

The authors of this article are Gabriel A. Radvansky, Bradley S. Gibson and M. Windy McNerney. Radvansky is a professor in the Department of Psychology at University of Notre Dame. Gibson is an associate professor in the same department at University of Notre Dame. McNerny was a doctoral student under the direction of Dr. Radvansky at time of publication, but has since earned her PhD in Cognitive Psychology. In this article, the authors aim to show how synesthesia influences memory performance with regards to word lists that produce the experience of synesthesia. The authors claim that synesthetes place more emphasis on item-specific than relational processing. Memory performance is enhanced because this method allows to specifically target a particular memory during recall. In other words, memory retrieval is more organized around distinct features of each item rather than their similarities. The author’s intended audiences are psychologists and other academic professionals.

As the article was in the form of a study conducted by the authors, there was no bias. The authors were objective, providing both arguments and counter-arguments in the article. The article accurately concluded that people with synesthesia recall more words from lists than others, but have difficulty processing words with incongruent colors. The authors also clarify that synesthetes do not have an overall superior memory than others but just for items that elicit photisms. The weaknesses of this article were that it only focused on word lists and not on more complex forms such as sentences and narratives. Thus, it only shows one aspect of memory in synethetes. Moreover, the article only focuses on those 18 years and older. It does not show the effects of such studies on children and senior citizens with synesthesia, who have problems with memory recall. However, the article supports the thesis of our project which is that people with synesthesia have better memory and inducing synesthesia can have positive effects on the performance of an individual. The information presented in this article is very significant because not only does it show the positive effects of synesthesia but also points out some of its problems such as difficulty of synesthetes in recalling words with incongruent colors, that we seek to avoid or improve.

Colizoli, Olympia, Jaap M. J. Murre, and Romke Rouw. “Pseudo-Synesthesia through Reading Books with Colored Letters.” PLoS ONE 7.6 (2012): 1-10. PLoS ONE. PLOS, 27 June 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2014.

The authors of this article are Olympia Colizoli, Jaap M.J. Murre and Romke Rouw. Colizoli is a professor of Brain and Cognition in the Department of Psychology at University of Amsterdam. Murre is also a professor of Brain and Cognition in the faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences at University of Amsterdam. Rouw is also a professor of Brain and Cognition in the Department of Psychology at the same university. In this article, the authors aim to examine if it is possible to produce synesthetic-like experience of synesthetes to enhance learning. They also intend to examine the effects of learning synesthetic associations in non-synesthetes. The authors claim that synesthesia is not necessarily an innate, genetically inherited trait. Features of synesthesia are present in early toddlers and synesthesia is also influenced by environmental factors. The intended audiences of the authors are other professors of psychology and academic professionals.

The authors are more inclined towards the benefits that synesthesia provides. There is hardly any discussion on the problems that synesthesia causes such as the difficulty in identifying words with incongruent colors and the challenge to interpret the magnitude of certain numbers. The article is effective in explaining the potential benefits of learning and adapting synesthesia. However, the studies are pretty inconclusive because they don’t observe the long-term effects of induced synesthesia and if it activates the same neural connections as it does in synesthetes. The article supports our thesis as it demonstrates that it is possible to teach people to experience and learn like synesthetes. It is very relevant to our paper because it is shows possible ways of teaching synesthesia that are congruent with our product.

Yaro, Caroline, and Jamie Ward. “Searching for Shereshevskii: What Is Superior about the Memory of Synaesthetes?” The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 60.5 (2007): 681-95. Web. 4 Dec. 2014. <http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17470210600785208>.

Caroline Yaro is a research assistant in the Institute of Child Health at University College London. Jamie Ward is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the same university, whose main research interest includes synaesthesia. In this article, the authors aim to study to what extent a powerful memory is a characteristic of synesthetes and to explain this difference with respect to the cognitive workings of the memory system in the brain. The authors claim that people with synesthesia have better memory for stimuli that induce synesthesia in comparison to stimuli that do not. They also claims that synesthesia usually possess a far superior memory is because of their better memory and perception of color. The intended audiences of the authors are other professors of psychology and academia in the sciences.

The article is objective and displayed no bias as the authors evaluated both the advantages and disadvantages of synesthesia. The strengths of the article are its explanation of how synesthesia operates in the brain and how it heightens memory of synesthetes. They clearly show the potentiality of synesthetic elements being simulated in non-synesthetes for enhanced memory and perception. However, the authors only tested the elements of synesthesia in the synesthetes for better memory but did not test non-synesthetes that were trained with synesthetic elements. This would have allowed a better understanding whether the superior memory in synesthetes in innate or acquired. The information in the article supports our thesis as it verifies that synesthesia results in a superior memory and perception. The article is very relevant for our paper because it provides us with a cognitive understanding of synesthesia to explain the phenomenon.