Synesthetic associations and psychopathological symptoms: Preliminary evidence in young women

Abstract

Synesthesia is a neuropsychological condition in which stimulation of one sensory modality or cognitive pathway is associated with unusual experiences in a different unstimulated modality. In this context a purpose of this study is to find relationships between word-color associations and psychopathological symptoms of anxiety (SAS), depression (BDI-II), alexithymia (TAS-20) and symptoms of traumatic stress (TSC-40) in 43 healthy young women (mean age 18.25). Results of this study show that colors associated to specific words have significant correlations with symptoms of anxiety, depression, alexithymia and symptoms of traumatic stress. Sum of scores related to color associations to these words create subscales that are significantly correlated with BDI-II (Spearman R= -0.60), SAS (-0.44), TAS-20 (-0.70) and TSC-40 (-0.64); p<0.01. The results indicate specific synesthetic-like mechanisms in association processes specifically linked to psychopathological thinking, feelings and imagination.