Hale, Joanna, Jacqueline M. Thompson, Helen M. Morgan, Marinella Cappelletti, and Roi C. Kadosh. “Better Together? The Cognitive Advantages of Synaesthesia for Time, Numbers, and Space.” Cognitive Neuropsychology 31.7-8 (2014): 545-64. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 28 Nov. 2014. <http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2452/doi/full/10.1080/02643294.2014.967759#.VHj7SDHF83Q>.

All of the contributors to the article come from psychology departments at American universities. The authors argue that there is a difference between the magnitude and sequence accounts of TNS (time, numbers, and space) synaesthesia, and that the difference is clarified somewhat in there experiment. It seems that their intended audience regards mostly other psychologists and psychology scholars who cannot clearly decide upon which account is more veritable in the broader scheme of synaesthetes. It seems as if the experiment was conducted with direct intentions for results, yet bias is not apparent in the paper, nor in the trials themselves. The experimenters set up multiple control groups to compare with the TNS synaesthetes which made for some interesting results and a more accurate conclusion to be drawn, yet it could have gone more in-depth with its analysis of those other test subjects (grapheme-color synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes). The information in the article provides a wealth of background information for our technical specs. section and does not refute any claims we intend to make, while instead clarifying a specific type of synaesthesia for our group.

Kay, Collette L., Duncan A. Carmichael, Henry E. Ruffell, and Julia Simner. “Colour Fluctuations in Grapheme-colour Synaesthesia: The Effect of Clinical and Non-clinical Mood Changes.” British Journal of Psychology(2014): n. pag. Wiley Online Library. Web. 28 Nov. 2014. <http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2153/doi/10.1111/bjop.12102/full>.

The article’s contributors all work in Psychology departments of two Universities in the UK (University of Edinburgh and University of Sussex). The authors conducted a series of experiments testing grapheme-color synaesthetes and attempting to find a correlation between mood and the colors they experience. As it turns out, the evidence supports the claim that mood does in fact alter the colors they perceive (noted by a change in luminance). The article is intended for other scholars of psychology along with those interested in this field of research. Considering that the article is actually a publication of a science paper, the only room for bias is in the fact that it’s possible the authors drew more on correlation rather than causation, yet they do not make any claims that surpass what their evidence supports. The article offers a great deal of experimental details about grapheme-color synaesthetes, but lacks personal anecdotes or experience as it is essentially a lab report. I believe it does not deny anything our research paper intends to do, and actually extends the believability of our invention and the feasibility in many ways too. It seems relevant to our investigation considering it could provide useful information when looking at how our device could alter the moods of its users, along with their general brain functions.

Rouw, Romke, and K. Richard Ridderinkhof. “The Most Intriguing Question in Synesthesia Research.” Cognitive Neuroscience 5.2 (2014): 128-30.Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 7 Dec. 2014. <http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2452/doi/full/10.1080/17588928.2014.906400#tabModule>.

Both of the authors of this journal source work together at the University of Amsterdam’s center for the study of adaptive control in brain and behavior. Rouw and Ridderinkhof gathered information on the current analysis of synesthesia and put forth a broad, yet still unanswered question: “Why do most synesthetes *not* get confused by their additional sensations?” In the piece, they intend to clarify the boundaries of this question, in addition to attempting to answer it. The findings of the article extend past those in psychology departments around the world as it also begins to put together an even bigger question of personal realities and the lack of objectivity within them.  Dealing with a heavily subjective topic, one would think there would be room for bias, yet the authors handle the research with scientific treatment and was tormented with quite a large amount of peer review before  being released to the database. One of the major values of this source is that it answers questions that could worry our target audience and settles some fears of unwanted imaginative realities for children. It provides a great deal of detail about multiple types of synesthesia too, and mostly seems to focus on Grapheme-color synesthesia (like we will be doing in our presentation).