A long-standing issue concerning synesthesia is whether the trait is continuous or discontinuous with ordinary perception. Here, we found that a substantial proportion of non-synesthetes (>10 % out of >200 unselected participants) spontaneously became aware of their synesthesia by participating in an online survey that forced them to select colors for stimuli that evoke color sensations in synesthetes. Notably, the test-retest consistencies of color sensation in these non-synesthetes were comparable to those in self-claimed synesthetes, revealing their strong though latent synesthetic dispositions. The effect was absent or weak in a matched control survey that did not include the color-picking test. Therefore, the color-picking task likely provided the predisposed “borderline non-synesthetes” with an opportunity to dwell on their tendency toward synesthesia and allowed their subconscious sensations to become conscious ones. The finding suggests that the general population has a continuum of synesthetic disposition that encompasses both synesthetes and non-synesthetes.

关于联觉的一个长期存在的问题是该特征与普通知觉是连续的还是不连续的。在这里，我们发现很大比例的非联觉者（超过 200 名未选择的参与者中超过 10%）通过参与一项在线调查自发地意识到他们的联觉，该调查迫使他们选择颜色来刺激联觉者的颜色感觉。值得注意的是，这些非联觉者的色觉重测一致性与自称的联觉者相当，揭示了他们强烈但潜在的联觉倾向。在不包括颜色选择测试的匹配对照调查中，这种效果不存在或很弱。因此，颜色选择任务很可能为那些有“边缘性非联觉者”倾向的人提供了一个机会，让他们有机会沉迷于他们的联觉倾向，并让他们的潜意识感觉变成有意识的感觉。该发现表明，一般人群具有连续的联觉倾向，包括联觉者和非联觉者。