Frequency correlates in grapheme-color synaesthesia

Individuals with synaesthesia experience certain stimuli in more than one sensory modality. Most common is the linkage of letters and digits (graphemes) to colors. Whereas synaesthesia might be partly genetically determined, the linkages to specific colors are assumed to be learned. We present a systematic statistical analysis of synaesthetic color perception based on subjects' reproduction of individual colors for each grapheme, instead of simple verbal categorizations. The statistical analysis revealed that the color perceptions, measured with the HSL (hue, saturation, and luminance) scale, varied systematically among the different digits and letters. The frequencies of the digits and letters (in the German language) partly explained these systematic variations. However, digit frequency was more strongly related to color perception in the synaesthetes than was letter frequency. The results for digit and letter frequency indicate that experience with graphemes may shape synaesthetic color perception.