title: 9 is always on top: assessing the automaticity of synaesthetic number-forms.
abstract: For number-form synaesthetes, digits occupy idiosyncratic spatial locations. Atypical to the mental number line that extends horizontally, the synaesthete (L) experiences the numbers 1-10 vertically. We used a spatial cueing task to demonstrate that L's attention could be automatically directed to locations within her number-space - being faster to detect targets appearing in synaesthetically cued locations. We sought to eliminate any influence of strategy on L's performance by: (a) shortening the cue-target onset to 150 ms, (b) making the cues counterpredictive, and (c) instructing L to use an opposing strategy. If L's performance was attributable to intentionally using the cue to predict target location, these manipulations should eliminate any cuing effects consistent with her synaesthesia. However, L showed an attentional bias compatible with her number-form, except when explicitly instructed of the opposing strategy and given enough time (800 ms). Therefore, we attribute L's resilient cueing effects to the automaticity of her number-form.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. majarick@uwaterloo.ca
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jarick
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smilek
mesh_terms: D001244:Association; D001288:Attention; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D006801:Humans; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011337:Probability Learning; D011930:Reaction Time; D012016:Reference Values; D013028:Space Perception; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult