Biomedical subjects

Carol Bergfeld Mills

Publications and source records attributed to Carol Bergfeld Mills.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Effect of a synesthete's photisms on name recall.

A multilingual, colored-letter synesthete professor (MLS), 9 nonsynesthete multilingual professors and 4 nonsynesthete art professors learned 30 names of individuals (first and last name pairs) in three trials. They recalled the names after each trial and six months later, as well as performed cued recall trials initially and after six months. As hypothesized, MLS recalled significantly more names than control groups on all free recall tests (except after the first trial) and on cued recall tests. In addition, MLS gave qualitatively different reasons for remembering names than any individual control participant. MLS gave mostly color reasons for remembering the names, whereas nonsynesthetes gave reasons based on familiarity or language or art knowledge. Results on standardized memory tests showed that MLS had average performance on non-language visual memory tests (the Benton Visual Retention Test-Revised--BURT-R, and the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test--CFT), but had superior memory performance on a verbal test consisting of lists of nouns (Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test--RAVLT). MLS's synesthesia seems to aid memory for visually or auditorily presented language stimuli (names and nouns), but not for non-language visual stimuli (simple and complex figures).

Adult↗

PubMed2003

"Seeing things in my head": a synesthete's images for music and notes.

We explored synesthetic experiences (photisms) elicited by music and notes for GS, a 22-year-old female college student, who is a genuine digit synesthete (Mills et al 1999 Cognitive Neuropsychology 16 181-191). After extensive interviews, we conducted five studies using synthesizer notes in different octaves and in different instrument sounds. GS described, drew, or selected her photisms from alternatives. The results were: (a) her photisms had shape, color, movement, and texture: (b) different instruments had photisms with different shapes and families of instruments had similar shapes; (c) low-pitched notes were darker and larger than high notes; (d) instrument and pitch affected each other; (e) a given note was perceived as darker after a high note than after a low note; and (f) GS's drawings of notes became more consistent with repeated trials. Theoretical observations are discussed on the basis of these results.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2002

The color of two alphabets for a multilingual synesthete.

Interviews with a multilingual synesthete (MLS), who experiences colored letters for Roman and Cyrillic alphabets and for digits, revealed stable synesthetic experiences over 2 1/2 - 5 years. Colors of Cyrillic letters were based on Roman letters. Four Stroop tests involving both types of letters showed that MLS was able to name print color faster if the colors matched her synesthetic colors, showing that synesthesia is automatic. Letter-naming times for blocks of color were slower than those of actual letters, supporting unidirectionality of synesthesia. Stroop tests with Roman, but not Cyrillic, letters showed MLS acquired new temporary letter-color pairings and her color-naming times for these were not different from those for her original synesthetic colors.

Color Perception↗

PubMed2002

Procedural text structure and reader perceptions and performance.

This research tested the relationship between text structural variables (on vs. off the causal chain, active vs. static information, and hierarchical structure) and reader perceptions, reading time, and true-false performance for procedural texts. Twenty-four college-age participants each read 3 procedural texts. As predicted, sentences that were (a) on the causal chain, (b) active, and (c) associated with task steps were read more slowly and judged to be more important (p < .05). The results were similar to those previously found with narratives, except for the hierarchical structure variable. Also as predicted, text differences were found such that as the variation in the type of information contained in the text increased, relationships with the structural variables increased.

Analysis of Variance↗