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).

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.

Max, Velmans. “PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND VIRTUAL REALITIES.” University of London 45–60. Web.

Max Velmans is a professor at the University of London working in the Department of Psychology. Being an expert in psychology, he is well qualified in discussing the neurological effects of virtual reality. Velmans believes that the effects of virtual reality and its experiences far differ from that of physical and even psychological reality. The author’s main audience seems to lean towards students majoring in psychology or any others working in that field. With its above-average terminology and usage of diagrams to explain its arguments, this article is most likely not geared for the average reader.

Being a psychologist, the author may over analyze the differences between the different realities. Although I understand that there may be slight neurological and cognitive differences in the varying experiences, I also think that if a theoretical perfect virtual reality were to exist, the differences would be more negligible than what the author is proposing. Other than that, it tends to be more wrapped up in definitions making the whole article surprisingly neutral as a whole. Perhaps the greatest strength of this article is that it touches upon all five senses. He explains the projections of virtual reality on people through the different senses that are triggered. The article is extremely thorough and does a great job defining the different realities as well as explaining what it truly means to be in a virtual reality. However, it is also very concerned with definitions. While it helps better our understanding of virtual reality, or group will get no opinions, case studies or examples to further illustrate our cause. For the most part, it supports our thesis that virtual reality will give its users a unique experience, but because the author spends so much time defining terminology, the article tends to be quite neutral. Still, this article is very appropriate for our paper because it explores all the different ways something can be a virtual reality. By focusing on the projections working on our senses, the article becomes even more relevant as we are talking about synesthesia.

J.D., Sartain. “Virtual Reality Gets Real.” N.p., 24 Sept. 2012. Web.

The author, J.D. Sartain, is a simple freelance journalist and therefore is not affiliated with any organization. The author does not have real thesis or stance but simply presents the various forms of virtual reality that already exist. The author’s intended audience is the average user and anyone who wants to find out more about virtual reality technology. The article is supplemented by an easy-to-use slideshow that has images and small paragraphs of text to supplement each picture. The presentation is simple meaning that the author wants his article to be easily accessible.

As I mentioned before, the article takes no real stance on virtual reality. It simply presents facts about the virtual reality technologies that are either in development or have already been released. Being a simple journalist without a psychological or scientific background, I cannot see him swaying the information in any way. The strengths of this article is that is has no bias and that it also presents an easy-to-read list of virtual reality technologies. It gives eleven different examples of devices and programs that utilize virtual reality giving readers a broad understanding of the way science is pursuing this field of study. On the other hand, the author has no scientific background and the article does little to go in depth with this topic. Aside from just referring to the article for examples of technology, it does not add much for our paper. The article does not really support nor negate our thesis. It does, however, still hold relevance as we would obviously want to compare our project with technologies that already exist. With this information we can fine tune our product by looking at what is already available and how our technology can offer something different.