Synesthesia Training as a Language Acquisition Tool: Can pseudo-synesthesia help you learn similar alphabets faster than dissimilar alphabets?

Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which certain stimuli trigger automatic sensations. Having synesthesia is linked to enhanced memory and language acquisition. Grapheme-color synesthesia is relatively rare: 1.5% of the population experiences letters in colors. However, recent evidence suggests that synesthesia can also be acquired through training (pseudo-synesthesia). It is an open question whether the benefits to language learning seen in synesthesia also apply to pseudo-synesthetes. As part of a larger study testing the effectiveness of synesthesia training for L2 learning, this paper strives to answer the novel question of whether the training is more beneficial for learning certain languages: either a similar (Greek) or a dissimilar alphabet (Arabic). In the current study, Native Dutch participants were trained to make letter-color associations for a subset of Latin graphemes and were afterward taught Greek or Arabic letters and their pronunciations through tasks with...Show moreSynesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which certain stimuli trigger automatic sensations. Having synesthesia is linked to enhanced memory and language acquisition. Grapheme-color synesthesia is relatively rare: 1.5% of the population experiences letters in colors. However, recent evidence suggests that synesthesia can also be acquired through training (pseudo-synesthesia). It is an open question whether the benefits to language learning seen in synesthesia also apply to pseudo-synesthetes. As part of a larger study testing the effectiveness of synesthesia training for L2 learning, this paper strives to answer the novel question of whether the training is more beneficial for learning certain languages: either a similar (Greek) or a dissimilar alphabet (Arabic). In the current study, Native Dutch participants were trained to make letter-color associations for a subset of Latin graphemes and were afterward taught Greek or Arabic letters and their pronunciations through tasks with feedback. Some L2 letters could be linked via shape or sound to a Dutch letter that was trained in synesthetic color (“transfer possible”), whereas others were linked to a Dutch letter associated with no color (“transfer impossible”). Synesthesia training improved language learning if the L2 letters in the “transfer possible” condition were learned more quickly than those in the “transfer impossible” condition. The results suggest that synesthesia training improves language learning, but contrary to the initial prediction, it helped the participants who learned Arabic more than the ones who learned Greek. Possible reasons for this difference are discussed, and it is concluded that further research is needed. Can we then assume that similar alphabets are indeed not learned faster than dissimilar ones after being trained in pseudo-synesthesia?Show less

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Synesthesia Training as a Language Acquisition Tool: Can pseudo-synesthesia help you learn similar alphabets faster than dissimilar alphabets?