The influence of meaning on attention and memory

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Letters and digits have both form and meaning.  A 7 has a describable form but also semantic attributes.  It has a specific pronunciation ("seven"), and magnitude (> 6) as well as other connotations (e.g.,"lucky 7").  Persons with grapheme-colour synaesthesia have unusual semantic associations linked to both digits and letters and certain words.  For example a 7 is not only lucky, but is also yellow.  For "Time-Space synaesthetes", words that refer to time units (e.g., July) are associated with spatial locations (e.g., July is just above and to the right of August). My research program seeks to show that these unusual aspects of meaning can influence the manner in which digits or words are attended to and remembered. For example flashing the word July on a computer screen automatically directs a synaesthete's attention to their right (if that is where July resides for them).  Synaesthetes like this also use their spatial calendars to remember dates and events in their lives.  Studying synaesthesia offers a rare opportunity to study how the meaning of concepts like digits, and months can influence how we attend and remember these concepts.The goal  here is not to understand synaesthesia per se, but rather to use synaesthesia as a venue for answering general questions about how the meaning associated with objects in our world can influence how they are attended and remembered.