Projectors are the minority of synesthetes whose concurrents appear in the world: the photism hovers in space, the letter’s color sits on the printed character itself. For a projector chromesthete, a snare can flash somewhere specific, out there.
The contrast is with associators, who experience the same reliable pairings in the mind’s eye. Experiments can separate the two: projected colors interfere with visual tasks in ways internally experienced colors do not.
The distinction matters for research because it suggests the trait can tap into perception at different depths while producing equally consistent behavior.