Synesthesia

Synesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of

Synesthesia
one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary
experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.[3][4][5][6] Other names Synaesthesia[1][2]
People who report a lifelong history of such experiences are known
as synesthetes. Awareness of synesthetic perceptions varies from
person to person.[7]

In one common form of synesthesia, known as grapheme-color

synesthesia or color-graphemic synesthesia, letters or numbers are
perceived as inherently colored.[8][9] In spatial-sequence, or How someone with synesthesia might perceive
number form synesthesia, numbers, months of the year, or days of certain letters and numbers. Synesthetes see
the week elicit precise locations in space (for example, 1980 may characters just as others do (in whichever color
be "farther away" than 1990), or may appear as a three- actually displayed) but may simultaneously
dimensional map (clockwise or counterclockwise).[10][11] perceive colors as associated with or evoked by
Synesthetic associations can occur in any combination and any each one.
number of senses or cognitive pathways.[12] Little is known about Specialty Psychiatry, neurology
how synesthesia develops. It has been suggested that synesthesia
develops during childhood when children are intensively engaged with abstract concepts for the first time.[13] This hypothesis –
referred to as semantic vacuum hypothesis – explains why the most common forms of synesthesia are grapheme-color, spatial
sequence and number form. These are usually the first abstract concepts that educational systems require children to learn.

Difficulties have been recognized in adequately defining synesthesia.[14][15] Many different phenomena have been included in
the term synesthesia ("union of the senses"), and in many cases the terminology seems to be inaccurate. A more accurate but less
common term may be ideasthesia.

The earliest recorded case of synesthesia is attributed to the Oxford University academic and philosopher John Locke, who, in
1690, made a report about a blind man who said he experienced the color scarlet when he heard the sound of a trumpet.[16]
However, there is disagreement as to whether Locke described an actual instance of synesthesia or was using a metaphor.[17] The
first medical account came from German physician, Georg Tobias Ludwig Sachs in 1812.[17][18][19] The term is from the Ancient
Greek σύν syn, "together", and αἴσθησις aisthēsis, "sensation".[16]

Contents
Types
Grapheme-color synesthesia
Chromesthesia
Spatial sequence synesthesia
Number form
Auditory-tactile synesthesia
Ordinal linguistic personification
Misophonia
Mirror-touch synesthesia
Lexical-gustatory synesthesia
 Other forms
Signs and symptoms
Mechanism
Genetics
Diagnosis
Prevalence
History
Society and culture
Notable cases
Art
Literature
Research
Technological applications
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Types
There are two overall forms of synesthesia:

projective synesthesia: people who see actual colors, forms, or shapes when stimulated (the widely understood
version of synesthesia).
associative synesthesia: people who feel a very strong and involuntary connection between the stimulus and the
sense that it triggers.
For example, in chromesthesia (sound to color), a projector may hear a trumpet, and see an orange triangle in space, while an
associator might hear a trumpet, and think very strongly that it sounds "orange".

Synesthesia can occur between nearly any two senses or perceptual modes, and at least one synesthete, Solomon Shereshevsky,
experienced synesthesia that linked all five senses. Types of synesthesia are indicated by using the notation x → y, where x is the
"inducer" or trigger experience, and y is the "concurrent" or additional experience. For example, perceiving letters and numbers
(collectively called graphemes) as colored would be indicated as grapheme → color synesthesia. Similarly, when synesthetes see
colors and movement as a result of hearing musical tones, it would be indicated as tone → (color, movement) synesthesia.

While nearly every logically possible combination of experiences can occur, several types are more common than others.

Grapheme-color synesthesia
In one of the most common forms of synesthesia, individual letters of the alphabet and numbers (collectively referred to as
graphemes) are "shaded" or "tinged" with a color. While different individuals usually do not report the same colors for all letters
and numbers, studies with large numbers of synesthetes find some commonalities across letters (e.g. A is likely to be red).[20]

Chromesthesia
Another common form of synesthesia is the association of sounds with colors. For some, everyday sounds such as doors opening,
cars honking, or people talking can trigger seeing colors. For others, colors are triggered when musical notes or keys are being
played. People with synesthesia related to music may also have perfect pitch because their ability to see/hear colors aids them in
identifying notes or keys.[21]

The colors triggered by certain sounds, and any other synesthetic visual
experiences, are referred to as photisms.

According to Richard Cytowic,[5] chromesthesia is "something like fireworks":

voice, music, and assorted environmental sounds such as clattering dishes or dog
barks trigger color and firework shapes that arise, move around, and then fade
when the sound ends. Sound often changes the perceived hue, brightness,
scintillation, and directional movement. Some individuals see music on a From the 2009 non-fiction book
"screen" in front of their faces. For Deni Simon, music produces waving lines Wednesday Is Indigo Blue.[5] Note
"like oscilloscope configurations – lines moving in color, often metallic with this example's upside-down clock
face.
height, width and, most importantly, depth. My favorite music has lines that
extend horizontally beyond the 'screen' area."

Individuals rarely agree on what color a given sound is. B flat might be orange for one person and blue for another. Composers
Franz Liszt and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov famously disagreed on the colors of music keys.

Spatial sequence synesthesia

Those with spatial sequence synesthesia (SSS) tend to see numerical sequences as points in space. For instance, the number 1
might be farther away and the number 2 might be closer. People with SSS may have superior memories; in one study, they were
able to recall past events and memories far better and in far greater detail than those without the condition. They also see months
or dates in the space around them. Some people see time like a clock above and around them.[22][23]

Number form
A number form is a mental map of numbers that automatically and involuntarily
appears whenever someone who experiences number-forms synesthesia thinks of
numbers. Number forms were first documented and named in 1881 by Francis
Galton in "The Visions of Sane Persons".[24]

Auditory-tactile synesthesia A number form from one of Francis

Galton's subjects (1881).[10] Note
In auditory-tactile synesthesia, certain sounds can induce sensations in parts of
how the first 12 digits correspond to
the body. For example, someone with auditory-tactile synesthesia may
a clock face.
experience that hearing a specific word feels like touch in one specific part of the
body or may experience that certain sounds can create a sensation in the skin
without being touched. It is one of the least common forms of synesthesia.[25]

Ordinal linguistic personification

Ordinal-linguistic personification (OLP, or personification for short) is a form of synesthesia in which ordered sequences, such as
ordinal numbers, week-day names, months and alphabetical letters are associated with personalities or genders (Simner &
Hubbard 2006). For example, the number 2 might be a young boy with a short temper, or the letter G might be a busy mother
with a kind face. Although this form of synesthesia was documented as early as the 1890s (Flournoy 1893; Calkins 1893)
researchers have, until recently, paid little attention to this form (see History of synesthesia research). This form of synesthesia
was named as OLP in the contemporary literature by Julia Simner and colleagues [26] although it is now also widely recognised
by the term "sequence-personality" synesthesia. Ordinal linguistic personification normally co-occurs with other forms of
synesthesia such as grapheme-color synesthesia.

Misophonia
Misophonia is a neurological disorder in which negative experiences (anger, fright, hatred, disgust) are triggered by specific
sounds. Richard Cytowic suggests that misophonia is related to, or perhaps a variety of, synesthesia.[27] Miren Edelstein and her
colleagues have compared misophonia to synesthesia in terms of connectivity between different brain regions as well as specific
symptoms. They formed the hypothesis that "a pathological distortion of connections between the auditory cortex and limbic
structures could cause a form of sound-emotion synesthesia."[28]

Mirror-touch synesthesia
This is a rare form of synesthesia where individuals feel the same sensation that another person feels (such as touch). For
instance, when such a synesthete observes someone being tapped on their shoulder, the synesthete involuntarily feels a tap on
their own shoulder as well. People with this type of synesthesia have been shown to have higher empathy levels compared to the
general population. This may be related to the so-called mirror neurons present in the motor areas of the brain, which have also
been linked to empathy.[29]

Lexical-gustatory synesthesia
This is another rare form of synesthesia where certain tastes are experienced when hearing words. For example, the word
basketball might taste like waffles. The documentary 'Derek Tastes Of Earwax' gets its name from this phenomenon, in references
to pub owner James Wannerton who experiences this particular sensation whenever he hears the name spoken.[30][31] It is
estimated that 0.2% of the population has this form of synesthesia.[32]

Other forms
Other forms of synesthesia have been reported, but little has been done to analyze them scientifically. There are at least 80
different types of synesthesia.[33]

In August 2017 a research article in the journal Social Neuroscience reviewed studies with fMRI to determine if persons who
experience Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response are experiencing a form of synesthesia. While a determination has not yet
been made, there is anecdotal evidence that this may be the case, based on significant and consistent differences from the control
group, in terms of functional connectivity within neural pathways. It is unclear whether this will lead to ASMR being included as
a form of existing synesthesia, or if a new type will be considered.[34]

Signs and symptoms

Some synesthetes often report that they were unaware their experiences were unusual until they realized other people did not have
them, while others report feeling as if they had been keeping a secret their entire lives.[35] The automatic and ineffable nature of a
synesthetic experience means that the pairing may not seem out of the ordinary. This involuntary and consistent nature helps
define synesthesia as a real experience. Most synesthetes report that their experiences are pleasant or neutral, although, in rare
cases, synesthetes report that their experiences can lead to a degree of sensory overload.[20]
Though often stereotyped in the popular media as a medical condition or neurological aberration, many synesthetes themselves
do not perceive their synesthetic experiences as a handicap. To the contrary, some report it as a gift—an additional "hidden" sense
—something they would not want to miss. Most synesthetes become aware of their distinctive mode of perception in their
childhood. Some have learned how to apply their ability in daily life and work. Synesthetes have used their abilities in
memorization of names and telephone numbers, mental arithmetic, and more complex creative activities like producing visual art,
music, and theater.[35]

Despite the commonalities which permit definition of the broad phenomenon of synesthesia, individual experiences vary in
numerous ways. This variability was first noticed early in synesthesia research.[36] Some synesthetes report that vowels are more
strongly colored, while for others consonants are more strongly colored.[20] Self reports, interviews, and autobiographical notes
by synesthetes demonstrate a great degree of variety in types of synesthesia, intensity of synesthetic perceptions, awareness of the
perceptual discrepancies between synesthetes and non-synesthetes, and the ways synesthesia is used in work, creative processes,
and daily life.[35][37]

Synesthetes are very likely to participate in creative activities.[38] It has been suggested that individual development of perceptual
and cognitive skills, in addition to one's cultural environment, produces the variety in awareness and practical use of synesthetic
phenomena.[7][37] Synesthesia may also give a memory advantage. In one study conducted by Julia Simner of the University of
Edinburgh it was found that spatial sequence synesthetes have a built-in and automatic mnemonic reference. So the non-
synesthete will need to create a mnemonic device to remember a sequence (like dates in a diary), but the synesthete can simply
reference their spatial visualizations.[39]

Mechanism
As of 2015 the neurological correlates of synesthesia had not been
established.[41]

Dedicated regions of the brain are specialized for given functions. Increased
cross-talk between regions specialized for different functions may account for
the many types of synesthesia. For example, the additive experience of seeing
color when looking at graphemes might be due to cross-activation of the
grapheme-recognition area and the color area called V4 (see figure).[40] This is
supported by the fact that grapheme-color synesthetes are able to identify the
color of a grapheme in their peripheral vision even when they cannot Regions thought to be cross-
consciously identify the shape of the grapheme.[40] activated in grapheme-color
synesthesia (green=grapheme
An alternative possibility is disinhibited feedback, or a reduction in the amount recognition area, red=V4 color
of inhibition along normally existing feedback pathways.[42] Normally, area)[40]
excitation and inhibition are balanced. However, if normal feedback were not
inhibited as usual, then signals feeding back from late stages of multi-sensory
processing might influence earlier stages such that tones could activate vision. Cytowic and Eagleman find support for the
disinhibition idea in the so-called acquired forms[5] of synesthesia that occur in non-synesthetes under certain conditions:
temporal lobe epilepsy,[43] head trauma, stroke, and brain tumors. They also note that it can likewise occur during stages of
meditation, deep concentration, sensory deprivation, or with use of psychedelics such as LSD or mescaline, and even, in some
cases, marijuana.[5] However, synesthetes report that common stimulants, like caffeine and cigarettes do not affect the strength of
their synesthesia, nor does alcohol.[5]:137–40

A very different theoretical approach to synesthesia is that based on ideasthesia. According to this account, synesthesia is a
phenomenon mediated by the extraction of the meaning of the inducing stimulus. Thus, synesthesia may be fundamentally a
semantic phenomenon. Therefore, to understand neural mechanisms of synesthesia the mechanisms of semantics and the
extraction of meaning need to be understood better. This is a non-trivial issue because it is not only a question of a location in the
brain at which meaning is "processed" but pertains also to the question of understanding—epitomized in e.g., the Chinese room
problem. Thus, the question of the neural basis of synesthesia is deeply entrenched into the general mind–body problem and the
problem of the explanatory gap.[44]

Genetics
The genetic mechanism of synesthesia has long been debated. Due to the prevalence of synesthesia among the first-degree
relatives of synesthetes,[45] there is evidence that synesthesia might have a genetic basis, however the monozygotic twins case
studies indicate there is an epigenetic component. Synesthesia might also be an oligogenic condition, with Locus heterogeneity,
multiple forms of inheritance (including Mendelian in some cases), and continuous variation in gene expression. It has been
found that women have a higher chance of developing Synesthesia, and in the UK, females are 8 times more likely to have it than
men (reasons are unknown). When people are left handed it is inherited, and researchers have discovered that synesthetes have a
higher probability of being left handed than the general population. Neuroscience (https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.ht
ml)

Diagnosis
Although often termed a "neurological condition," synesthesia is not listed in either the DSM-IV or the ICD since it most often
does not interfere with normal daily functioning.[46] Indeed, most synesthetes report that their experiences are neutral or even
pleasant.[20] Like perfect pitch, synesthesia is simply a difference in perceptual experience.

Synesthesia Test Variations (https://www.synesthesiatest.org/blog/synesthesia-tes

t-variations) A number of tests exist for synesthesia. Each common type has a
specific test. When testing for Grapheme-color synesthesia a visual test is given.
The person is shown a picture that includes black letters and numbers. A
synesthete will associate the letters and numbers with a specific color. An
Auditory test is another way to test for Synesthesia. A sound is turned on and
one will either identity it with a taste, or envision shapes. The audio test
correlates with Chromesthesia (sounds with colors). Since people question Reaction times for answers that are
whether or not Synesthesia is just tied into memory the "Retest" is given. One is congruent with a synesthete's
given a set of objects and is asked to assign colors, tastes, personalities, or more. automatic colors are shorter than
those whose answers are
After a period of time, the same objects are given back to the person and are
incongruent.[5]
asked again to do the same job. The synesthete is able to assign the same
characteristics, because that person has already made neural associations which
involves a permanent solution in the brain, rather than it just being a memory that the person had to a certain object. The simplest
approach is test-retest reliability over long periods of time, using stimuli of color names, color chips, or a computer-screen color
picker providing 16.7 million choices. Synesthetes consistently score around 90% on reliability of associations, even with years
between tests.[3] In contrast, non-synesthetes score just 30–40%, even with only a few weeks between tests and a warning that
they would be retested.[3]

Grapheme-color synesthetes, as a group, share significant preferences for the color of each letter (e.g. A tends to be red; O tends
to be white or black; S tends to be yellow etc.)[20] Nonetheless, there is a great variety in types of synesthesia, and within each
type, individuals report differing triggers for their sensations and differing intensities of experiences. This variety means that
defining synesthesia in an individual is difficult, and the majority of synesthetes are completely unaware that their experiences
have a name.[20]

Neurologist Richard Cytowic identifies the following diagnostic criteria for synesthesia in his first edition book. However, the
criteria are different in the second book:[3][4][5]
 1. Synesthesia is involuntary and automatic.
2. Synesthetic perceptions are spatially extended, meaning they often
have a sense of "location." For example, synesthetes speak of
"looking at" or "going to" a particular place to attend to the
experience.
3. Synesthetic percepts are consistent and generic (i.e. simple rather
than pictorial).
4. Synesthesia is highly memorable.
The automaticity of synesthetic
5. Synesthesia is laden with affect.
experience. A synesthete might
Cytowic's early cases mainly included individuals whose synesthesia was perceive the left panel like the panel
frankly projected outside the body (e.g. on a "screen" in front of one's face). on the right.[40]
Later research showed that such stark externalization occurs in a minority of
synesthetes. Refining this concept, Cytowic and Eagleman differentiated
between "localizers" and "non-localizers" to distinguish those synesthetes whose perceptions have a definite sense of spatial
quality from those whose perceptions do not.[5]

Prevalence
Estimates of prevalence of synesthesia have ranged widely, from 1 in 4 to 1 in 25,000 - 100,000. However, most studies have
relied on synesthetes reporting themselves, introducing self-referral bias.[47] In what is cited as the most accurate prevalence
study so far,[47] self-referral bias was avoided by studying 500 people recruited from the communities of Edinburgh and Glasgow
Universities; it showed a prevalence of 4.4%, with 9 different variations of synesthesia.[48] This study also concluded that one
common form of synesthesia—grapheme-color synesthesia (colored letters and numbers) – is found in more than one percent of
the population, and this latter prevalence of graphemes-color synesthesia has since been independently verified in a sample of
nearly 3,000 people in the University of Edinburgh.[49]

The most common forms of synesthesia are those that trigger colors, and the most prevalent of all is day-color.[48] Also relatively
common is grapheme-color synesthesia. We can think of "prevalence" both in terms of how common is synesthesia (or different
forms of synesthesia) within the population, or how common are different forms of synesthesia within synesthetes. So within
synesthetes, forms of synesthesia that trigger color also appear to be the most common forms of synesthesia with a prevalence
rate of 86% within synesthetes.[48] In another study, music-color is also prevalent at 18–41%. Some of the rarest are reported to
be auditory-tactile, mirror-touch, and lexical-gustatory.[50]

There is research to suggest that the likelihood of having synesthesia is greater in people with autism.[51]

History
The interest in colored hearing dates back to Greek antiquity, when philosophers asked if the color (chroia, what we now call
timbre) of music was a quantifiable quality.[52] Isaac Newton proposed that musical tones and color tones shared common
frequencies, as did Goethe in his book Theory of Colours.[53] There is a long history of building color organs such as the clavier à
lumières on which to perform colored music in concert halls.[54][54][55]

The first medical description of "colored hearing" is in an 1812 thesis by the German physician Georg Tobias Ludwig
Sachs.[56][17][18] The "father of psychophysics," Gustav Fechner, reported the first empirical survey of colored letter photisms
among 73 synesthetes in 1876,[57][58] followed in the 1880s by Francis Galton.[10][59][60] Carl Jung refers to "color hearing" in
his Symbols of Transformation in 1912.[61]

In the early 1920s the Bauhaus teacher and musician Gertrud Grunow researched the relationships between sound, color and
movement and developed a 'twelve-tone circle of colour' which was analogous with the twelve-tone music of the Austrian
composer Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951).[62] She was a participant in at least one of the Congresses for Colour-Sound Research
(German:Kongreß für Farbe-Ton-Forschung) held in Hamburg in the late 1920s and early 1930s.[63]

Research into synesthesia proceeded briskly in several countries, but due to the difficulties in measuring subjective experiences
and the rise of behaviorism, which made the study of any subjective experience taboo, synesthesia faded into scientific oblivion
between 1930 and 1980.

As the 1980s cognitive revolution made inquiry into internal subjective states respectable again, scientists returned to synesthesia.
Led in the United States by Larry Marks and Richard Cytowic, and later in England by Simon Baron-Cohen and Jeffrey Gray,
researchers explored the reality, consistency, and frequency of synesthetic experiences. In the late 1990s, the focus settled on
grapheme → color synesthesia, one of the most common[20] and easily studied types. Psychologists and neuroscientists study
synesthesia not only for its inherent appeal, but also for the insights it may give into cognitive and perceptual processes that occur
in synesthetes and non-synesthetes alike. Synesthesia is now the topic of scientific books and papers, PhD theses, documentary
films, and even novels.

Since the rise of the Internet in the 1990s, synesthetes began contacting one another and creating web sites devoted to the
condition. These rapidly grew into international organizations such as the American Synesthesia Association, the UK
Synaesthesia Association, the Belgian Synesthesia Association, the Canadian Synesthesia Association, the German Synesthesia
Association, and the Netherlands Synesthesia Web Community.

Society and culture

Notable cases
As mentioned before, one of the most notable synesthetes is Solomon Shereshevsky, a newspaper reporter turned celebrated
mnemonist, who was discovered by Russian neuropsychologist, Alexander Luria, to have a rare fivefold form of synesthesia.[64]
Words and text were not only associated with highly vivid visuo-spatial imagery but also sound, taste, color, and sensation.[64]
Shereshevsky could recount endless details of many things without form, from lists of names to decades-old conversations, but he
had great difficulty grasping abstract concepts. The automatic, and nearly permanent, retention of every little detail due to
synesthesia greatly inhibited Shereshevsky from understanding much of what he read or heard.[64]

Ramachandran, a neuroscientist and author, studied the case of a grapheme-color synesthete who was also color blind. While he
couldn't see certain colors with his eyes, he could still "see" those colors when looking at certain letters. Because he didn't have a
name for those colors, he called them "Martian colors."[65]

Art
Other notable synesthetes come particularly from artistic professions and backgrounds. Synesthetic art historically refers to multi-
sensory experiments in the genres of visual music, music visualization, audiovisual art, abstract film, and
intermedia.[35][66][67][68][69][70] Distinct from neuroscience, the concept of synesthesia in the arts is regarded as the simultaneous
perception of multiple stimuli in one gestalt experience.[71]

Neurological synesthesia has been a source of inspiration for artists, composers, poets, novelists, and digital artists. Vladimir
Nabokov writes explicitly about synesthesia in several novels. Wassily Kandinsky (a synesthete) and Piet Mondrian (not a
synesthete) both experimented with image-music congruence in their paintings. Alexander Scriabin composed colored music that
was deliberately contrived and based on the circle of fifths, whereas Olivier Messiaen invented a new method of composition (the
modes of limited transposition) specifically to render his bi-directional sound-color synesthesia. For example, the red rocks of
Bryce Canyon are depicted in his symphony Des canyons aux étoiles... ("From the Canyons to the Stars"). New art movements
such as literary symbolism, non-figurative art, and visual music have profited from experiments with synesthetic perception and
contributed to the public awareness of synesthetic and multi-sensory ways of perceiving.[35]
Contemporary artists with synesthesia, such as Carol Steen[72] and Marcia Smilack[73] (a photographer who waits until she gets a
synesthetic response from what she sees and then takes the picture), use their synesthesia to create their artwork. Brandy Gale, a
Canadian visual artist, experiences an involuntary joining or crossing of any of her senses – hearing, vision, taste, touch, smell
and movement. Gale paints from life rather than from photographs and by exploring the sensory panorama of each locale
attempts to capture, select, and transmit these personal experiences.[74][75][76]

David Hockney perceives music as color, shape, and configuration and uses these perceptions when painting opera stage sets
(though not while creating his other artworks). Kandinsky combined four senses: color, hearing, touch, and smell.[3][5] Nabokov
described his grapheme-color synesthesia at length in his autobiography, Speak, Memory, and portrayed it in some of his
characters.[77] In addition to Messiaen, whose three types of complex colors are rendered explicitly in musical chord structures
that he invented,[5][78] other composers who reported synesthesia include Duke Ellington,[79] Rimsky-Korsakov,[80] and Jean
Sibelius.[67] Michael Torke is a contemporary example of a synesthetic composer.[67] Physicist Richard Feynman describes his
colored equations in his autobiography, What Do You Care What Other People Think?[81]

Other notable synesthetes include musicians Billy Joel,[82]:89, 91 Itzhak Perlman,[82]:53 Alexander Frey, Lorde, Ida Maria,[83]
Brian Chase[84][85] and Patrick Stump; actress Stephanie Carswell (credited as Stéphanie Montreux); inventor Nikola Tesla;[86]
electronic musician Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin (who claims to be inspired by lucid dreams as well as music); and
classical pianist Hélène Grimaud. Drummer Mickey Hart of The Grateful Dead wrote about his experiences with synaesthesia in
his autobiography Drumming at the Edge of Magic.[87] Pharrell Williams, of the groups The Neptunes and N.E.R.D., also
experiences synesthesia[88][89] and used it as the basis of the album Seeing Sounds. Singer/songwriter Marina and the Diamonds
experiences music → color synesthesia and reports colored days of the week.[90]

Some artists frequently mentioned as synesthetes did not, in fact, have the neurological condition. Scriabin's 1911 Prometheus,
for example, is a deliberate contrivance whose color choices are based on the circle of fifths and appear to have been taken from
Madame Blavatsky.[5][91] The musical score has a separate staff marked luce whose "notes" are played on a color organ.
Technical reviews appear in period volumes of Scientific American.[5] On the other hand, his older colleague Rimsky-Korsakov
(who was perceived as a fairly conservative composer) was, in fact, a synesthete.[92]

French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire wrote of synesthetic experiences, but there is no evidence they were
synesthetes themselves. Baudelaire's 1857 Correspondances introduced the notion that the senses can and should intermingle.
Baudelaire participated in a hashish experiment by psychiatrist Jacques-Joseph Moreau and became interested in how the senses
might affect each other.[35] Rimbaud later wrote Voyelles (1871), which was perhaps more important than Correspondances in
popularizing synesthesia. He later boasted "J'inventais la couleur des voyelles!" (I invented the colors of the vowels!).[93]

Daniel Tammet wrote a book on his experiences with synesthesia called Born on a Blue Day.[94]

Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, is a synesthete who says she experiences colors as scents.[95] Her novel Blueeyedboy features
various aspects of synesthesia.

Ramin Djawadi, a composer best known for his work on composing the theme songs and scores for such TV series as Game of
Thrones, Westworld and for the Iron Man movie, also has synesthesia. He says he tends to "associate colors with music, or music
with colors."[96]

Literature
Synesthesia is sometimes used as a plot device or way of developing a character's inner life. Author and synesthete Pat Duffy
describes four ways in which synesthetic characters have been used in modern fiction.[97][98]

Synesthesia as Romantic ideal: in which the condition illustrates the Romantic ideal of transcending one's
experience of the world. Books in this category include The Gift by Vladimir Nabokov.
 Synesthesia as pathology: in which the trait is pathological. Books in this category include The Whole World Over
by Julia Glass.
Synesthesia as Romantic pathology: in which synesthesia is pathological but also provides an avenue to the
Romantic ideal of transcending quotidian experience. Books in this category include Holly Payne’s The Sound of
Blue and Anna Ferrara's The Woman Who Tried To Be Normal.
Synesthesia as psychological health and balance: Painting Ruby Tuesday by Jane Yardley, and A Mango-
Shaped Space by Wendy Mass.
Many literary depictions of synesthesia are not accurate. Some say more about an author's interpretation of synesthesia than the
phenomenon itself.

Research
Research on synesthesia raises questions about how the brain combines
information from different sensory modalities, referred to as crossmodal
perception or multisensory integration.

An example of this is the bouba/kiki effect. In an experiment first designed by

Wolfgang Köhler, people are asked to choose which of two shapes is named
bouba and which kiki. 95% to 98% of people choose kiki for the angular shape
Tests like this demonstrate that
and bouba for the rounded one. Individuals on the island of Tenerife showed a people do not attach sounds to visual
similar preference between shapes called takete and maluma. Even 2.5-year-old shapes arbitrarily. Which shape
children (too young to read) show this effect.[99] Recent research indicated that would you call "Bouba" and which
in the background of this effect may operate a form of ideasthesia.[100] "Kiki"?

Researchers hope that the study of synesthesia will provide better understanding
of consciousness and its neural correlates. In particular, synesthesia might be relevant to the philosophical problem of
qualia,[6][101] given that synesthetes experience extra qualia (e.g. colored sound). An important insight for qualia research may
come from the findings that synesthesia has the properties of ideasthesia,[14] which then suggest a crucial role of
conceptualization processes in generating qualia.[13]

Technological applications
Synesthesia also has a number of practical applications, one of which is the use of 'intentional synesthesia' in technology.[102]

The Voice
Peter Meijer developed a sensory substitution device called The vOICe (the capital letters "O," "I," and "C" in "vOICe" are
intended to evoke the expression "Oh I see"). The vOICe is a privately owned research project, running without venture capital,
that was first implemented using low-cost hardware in 1991.[103] The vOICe is a visual-to-auditory sensory substitution device
(SSD) preserving visual detail at high resolution (up to 25,344 pixels).[104] The device consists of a laptop, head-mounted camera
or computer camera, and headphones. The vOICe converts visual stimuli of the surroundings captured by the camera into
corresponding aural representations (soundscapes) delivered to the user through headphones at a default rate of one soundscape
per second. Each soundscape is a left-to-right scan, with height represented by pitch, and brightness by loudness.[105] The vOICe
compensates for the loss of vision by converting information from the lost sensory modality into stimuli in a remaining
modality.[106]

See also
Allochiria
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response
 Fantasy prone personality
Hallucination
Ideophone
Parosmia
Psychedelic drug
Sensory substitution
Thought-Forms
Visual music
The Yellow Sound
McCollough effect

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Further reading
de Broucker T (April 2013). "Synaesthesia, an augmented sensory world: phenomenology and literature review".
Rev. Neurol. (Paris) (Review) (in French). 169 (4): 328–34. doi:10.1016/j.neurol.2012.09.016 (https://doi.org/10.1
016%2Fj.neurol.2012.09.016). PMID 23434143 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23434143).
Cohen Kadosh R, Terhune DB (February 2012). "Redefining synaesthesia?" (http://research.gold.ac.uk/17077/1/
Cohen%20Kadosh%20%26%20Terhune%202010%20BJP.pdf) (PDF). Br J Psychol (Review). 103 (1): 20–3.
doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.2010.02003.x (https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.2044-8295.2010.02003.x). PMID 22229770
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22229770).
De Cordoba, M.J.; Riccò, D.; Day, Sean (July 2014). Synaesthesia: Theoretical, artistic and scientific foundations
(https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Mar%C3%ADa_José_de_Córdoba_Synaesthesia_Theoretical_art?id
=MSREBAAAQBAJ). Granada, Spain. p. 372. ISBN 978-84-939054-9-1.
Dael N, Sierro G, Mohr C (2013). "Affect-related synesthesias: a prospective view on their existence, expression
and underlying mechanisms" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3798864). Front Psychol (Review).
 4: 754. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00754 (https://doi.org/10.3389%2Ffpsyg.2013.00754). PMC 3798864 (https://ww
w.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3798864). PMID 24151478 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2415147
8).
Fitzgibbon BM, Enticott PG, Rich AN, Giummarra MJ, Georgiou-Karistianis N, Bradshaw JL (January 2012).
"Mirror-sensory synaesthesia: exploring 'shared' sensory experiences as synaesthesia". Neurosci Biobehav Rev
(Review). 36 (1): 645–57. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.09.006 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.neubiorev.2011.09.0
06). PMID 21986634 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21986634).
Luke DP, Terhune DB (2013). "The induction of synaesthesia with chemical agents: a systematic review" (https://
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3797969). Front Psychol (Review). 4: 753.
doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00753 (https://doi.org/10.3389%2Ffpsyg.2013.00753). PMC 3797969 (https://www.ncbi.n
lm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3797969). PMID 24146659 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24146659).
Mylopoulos MI, Ro T (2013). "Synesthesia: a colorful word with a touching sound?" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.go
v/pmc/articles/PMC3804765). Front Psychol (Review). 4: 763. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00763 (https://doi.org/10.3
389%2Ffpsyg.2013.00763). PMC 3804765 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3804765).
PMID 24155733 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24155733).
Price MC, Mattingley JB (May 2013). "Automaticity in sequence-space synaesthesia: a critical appraisal of the
evidence" (http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:292276/UQ292276_fulltext.pdf) (PDF). Cortex (Review). 49
(5): 1165–86. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2012.10.013 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.cortex.2012.10.013).
PMID 23237480 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23237480).
Rothen N, Meier B, Ward J (September 2012). "Enhanced memory ability: Insights from synaesthesia". Neurosci
Biobehav Rev (Review). 36 (8): 1952–63. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2012.05.004 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.neu
biorev.2012.05.004). PMID 22634573 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22634573).
Sinke C, Halpern JH, Zedler M, Neufeld J, Emrich HM, Passie T (September 2012). "Genuine and drug-induced
synesthesia: a comparison". Conscious Cogn (Review). 21 (3): 1419–34. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2012.03.009 (http
s://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.concog.2012.03.009). PMID 22521474 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2252147
4).
Simner J (February 2012). "Defining synaesthesia" (https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/12435588/Defining_synae
sthesia.pdf) (PDF). Br J Psychol (Review). 103 (1): 1–15. doi:10.1348/000712610X528305 (https://doi.org/10.134
8%2F000712610X528305). PMID 22229768 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22229768).
Suslick KS (December 2012). "Synesthesia in science and technology: more than making the unseen visible" (htt
ps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3606019). Curr Opin Chem Biol (Review). 16 (5–6): 557–63.
doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2012.10.030 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.cbpa.2012.10.030). PMC 3606019 (https://www.ncb
i.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3606019). PMID 23183411 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23183411).
Ward J (2013). "Synesthesia". Annu Rev Psychol (Review). 64: 49–75. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-
143840 (https://doi.org/10.1146%2Fannurev-psych-113011-143840). PMID 22747246 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.
gov/pubmed/22747246).

Danis, Alex. "Grapheme → colour synesthesia" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150918230906/http://www.numbe

rphile.com/videos/synesthesia.html). Numberphile. Brady Haran. Archived from the original (http://www.numberp
hile.com/videos/synesthesia.html) on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
Palmer, Stephen; Schloss, Karen B. (21 August 2015). "What's the Color of Your Favorite Song? – The Crux" (htt
p://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2015/08/21/color-song/). Discover Magazine Blogs. Kalmbach Publishing
Co.
"Synesthesia" (http://www.iep.utm.edu/synesthe/). Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

External links
Classification ICD-10: R44.8 (htt D
p://apps.who.int/cla
ssifications/icd10/br
owse/2016/en#/R4
4.8) · MeSH:
 C562460 (https://w
ww.nlm.nih.gov/cgi/
mesh/2015/MB_cg
i?field=uid&term=C
562460)

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