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Linguistic synesthesia is domain-specific: Evidence from cognitive and linguistic frameworks
Hemberger, Katie
Hemberger, Katie
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t24013_Hemberger.pdf
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2024-05
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This study assesses the nature of “synesthetic metaphors,” or linguistic constructions in which one sense describes another. In particular, I examine instances in which Color describes Taste like “red sweet” using linguistic, psychological, and psychophysical theories to develop a more robust understanding of the way that sensory connections are expressed and understood in language. In a pre-study, participants (N=86) performed a categorization task in which they chose the best-fitting label for a series of visual stimuli, a candy labelled with a flavor. In one condition, the color of the candy matched the color of the fruit on the label, but in another, its label and its colors mismatched. In the main study, participants (N=58) performed an Implicit Association Test (IAT) in which they matched either Hue and Flavor words or Brightness and Flavor words to each other. In all, the pre-study suggested that the referent on the label determines the color of the flavor but that assigning a label is easier when the cues (label and candy color) match each other. The main study, which took away any visual stimuli and exclusively relied on linguistic connections, showed a slight relationship between Hue and Flavor, one less significant than Brightness and Flavor. I argue that this is ultimately due the different cognitive processes used to process language and vision. Further, I push for specificity in the study of the synesthetic metaphor and advocate that there is no all-encompassing solution for the highly complex ways that senses interact with each other.
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Thesis (M.A.)-- Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of English
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Wichita State University
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© Copyright 2024 by Katie Hemberger
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