Hear from our students: Georgina Ralph
Georgina said: “For my JRA project I am working within the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, investigating whether non-synaesthetes show a Stroop-effect for certain letter-colour associations.
"The Stroop-task was originally performed using colour words either presented in their colour or a different colour; participants are quicker to name the colour of the word if it matches the word meaning (e.g. the word Red displayed in Red) compared to if they have to name a colour when they do not match (e.g. the word Red displayed in Green).
"Our research uses a variant of this Stroop-task to test whether non-synaesthetes are faster to respond when letters are displayed in the colour most commonly associated with them (e.g. A=Red, D=Brown) compared to if they do not match.
The JRA scheme has definitely been a high point of my University experience so far.”Georgina Ralph
Psychology BSc
"It has already been found that people in the general population have certain non-random letter-colour associations, similar to those in grapheme-colour synaesthesia. This research will examine these associations further, investigating whether they are automatic and therefore show congruency-based reaction time differences on this Stroop-like task.
"I have found the project to be interesting and beneficial on so many levels. Experiencing the research process first-hand has been more valuable than I can put into words.
"I now have a realistic idea of what it is like to carry out research, the highs and lows included! It is not just the research I have been working on that has benefited my understanding, but also working in a lab with the amazing researchers here has opened my eyes to so many different ideas and techniques.
"The JRA scheme has definitely been a high point of my University experience so far.”