The Effects of Synesthesia on Recall Memory Abilities in Teenagers

Abstract

Synesthesia is a rare phenomenon in which people associate an inducer, such as a sound, song, or sequence of time, with a specific concurrent, such as a color, shape, or physical sensation. Very little is known about what causes this phenomenon, although due to a recent influx of research, it has been recorded that synesthesia provides a wide array of cognitive benefits to those who experience it, with the most notable being memory. Children with synesthesia in group studies have not been shown to have advantageous memory, while adults with synesthesia in group studies have shown the opposite. However, a group study of this nature has never been conducted on teenagers with synesthesia, despite this being the age range where advantageous memory would seem likely to manifest. This study conducts an experimental analysis on the relationship between synesthesia and advantageous memory in teenagers for immediate, delayed, and matrix recall memory. The results of this study show that teenagers with synesthesia have a memory advantage in matrix recall memory, leading to the conclusion that, for some types of memory, synesthesia begins to provide a benefit in the years of adolescence.