Date of Award

5-2021

Degree Type

Honors College Thesis

Academic Program

Nursing BSN

Department

Nursing

First Advisor

Marti Jordan, Ph.D.

Advisor Department

Nursing

Abstract

Synesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon involving an inducer (a stimulus) and a concurrent (elicited response). For many years, scientists have striven to explain synesthesia and whether or not there are benefits to the people who experience it. In this study, nineteen participants were asked to complete a questionnaire in an attempt to see if their synesthetic experiences gave them advantages in the area of memory. The seven questions were given in a multiple-choice or text entry format, and the questionnaire was approved by The University of Southern Mississippi’s IRB before being sent out in an electronic format. The majority of the participants reported that their synesthesia did have an effect on their memory; however, they did not believe the effect to be advantageous. Those who felt their synesthesia was an advantage largely reported that their memory recall was improved because of their synesthetic abilities. Because the majority of the participants do not feel their memory is positively impacted, the results of the study do not support the researcher’s hypothesis that synesthesia improves memory abilities. More research will need to be done in the future in order to make more conclusive results using a larger experimental population. Research into the advantages of synesthesia is ongoing.

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