Ideasthesia

Ideasthesia (alternative spelling ideaesthesia) is defined as a phenomenon in

which activations of concepts (inducers) evoke perception-like experiences
(concurrents). The name comes from the Ancient Greek ἰδέα (idéa) and
αἴσθησις (aísthēsis), meaning "sensing concepts" or "sensing ideas".[1] The main
reason for introducing the notion of ideasthesia was the problems with Example of associations between
synesthesia. While "synesthesia" means "union of senses", empirical evidence graphemes and colors that are
indicated that this was an incorrect explanation of a set of phenomena described more accurately as
ideasthesia than as synesthesia
traditionally covered by this heading. Syn-aesthesis denoting also "co-
perceiving", implies the association of two sensory elements with little
connection to the cognitive level. However, according to others,[2][3][4][5][6][7] most phenomena that have inadvertently been
linked to synesthesia in fact are induced by the semantic representations. That is, the meaning of the stimulus is what is important
rather than its sensory properties, as would be implied by the term synesthesia. In other words, while synesthesia presumes that
both the trigger (inducer) and the resulting experience (concurrent) are of sensory nature, ideasthesia presumes that only the
resulting experience is of sensory nature while the trigger is semantic. Meanwhile, the concept of ideasthesia developed into a
theory of how we perceive and the research has extended to topics other than synesthesia — as the concept of ideasthesia turned
out applicable to our everyday perception. Ideasthesia has been even applied to the theory of art. Research on ideasthesia bears
important implications for solving the mystery of human conscious experience, which, according to ideasthesia, is grounded in
how we activate concepts.[8]

Contents
Examples and evidence
In normal perception
Implications for development of synesthesia
Implications for art theory
Neurophysiology of ideasthesia
See also
References
External links

Examples and evidence

A common example of synesthesia is the association between graphemes and colors, usually referred to as grapheme-color
synesthesia. Here, letters of the alphabet are associated with vivid experiences of color. Studies have indicated that the perceived
color is context-dependent and is determined by the extracted meaning of a stimulus. For example, an ambiguous stimulus '5' that
can be interpreted either as 'S' or '5' will have the color associated with 'S' or with '5', depending on the context in which it is
presented. If presented among numbers, it will be interpreted as '5' and will associate the respective color. If presented among
letters, it will be interpreted as 'S' and will associate the respective synesthetic color.[2]
 Evidence for grapheme-color synesthesia comes also from the finding that colors
can be flexibly associated to graphemes, as new meanings become assigned to
those graphemes. In one study synesthetes were presented with Glagolitic letters
that they have never seen before, and the meaning was acquired through a short
writing exercise. The Glagolitic graphemes inherited the colors of the
corresponding Latin graphemes as soon as the Glagolitic graphemes acquired the
new meaning.[3]

In another study, synesthetes were prompted to form novel synesthetic

associations to graphemes never seen before. Synesthetes created those
An illustration drawn by a synesthete
associations within minutes or seconds - which was time too short to account for
showing her time unit - space
creation of new physical connections between color representation and
synesthesia/ideasthesia: the months
in a year are organized into a circle grapheme representation areas in the brain,[9] pointing again towards ideasthesia.
surrounding her body, each month Although the time course is consistent with postsynaptic AMPA receptor
having a fixed location in space and upregulation and/or NMDA receptor coactivation, which would imply that the
a unique color. realtime experience is invoked at the synaptic level of analysis prior to
establishment of novel wiring per se, a very intuitively appealing model.

For lexical-gustatory synesthesia evidence also points towards ideasthesia: In lexical-gustatory synesthesia, verbalisation of the
stimulus is not necessary for the experience of concurrents. Instead, it is sufficient to activate the concept.[4]

Another case of synesthesia is swimming-style synesthesia in which each swimming style is associated with a vivid experience of
a color.[5][10] These synesthetes do not need to perform the actual movements of a corresponding swimming style. To activate the
concurrent experiences, it is sufficient to activate the concept of a swimming style (e.g., by presenting a photograph of a swimmer
or simply talking about swimming).[11]

It has been argued that grapheme-color synesthesia for geminate consonants also provides evidence for ideasthesia.[12]

In pitch-color synesthesia, the same tone will be associated with different colors depending on how it has been named; do-sharp
(i.e. di) will have colors similar to do (e.g., a reddish color) and re-flat (i.e. ra) will have color similar to that of re (e.g.,
yellowish), although the two classes refer to the same tone.[13] Similar semantic associations have been found between the
acoustic characteristics of vowels and the notion of size.[14]

One-shot synesthesia: There are synesthetic experiences that can occur just once in a lifetime, and are thus dubbed one-shot
synesthesia. Investigation of such cases has indicated that such unique experiences typically occur when a synesthete is involved
in an intensive mental and emotional activity such as making important plans for one's future or reflecting on one's life. It has
been thus concluded that this is also a form of ideasthesia.[15]

In normal perception
Recently, it has been suggested that the Bouba/Kiki phenomenon is a case of ideasthesia.[16][17][18] Most people will agree that
the star-shaped object on the left is named Kiki and the round one on the right Bouba.[19][20] It has been assumed that these
associations come from direct connections between visual and auditory cortices.[20] For example, according to that hypothesis,
representations of sharp inflections in the star-shaped object would be physically connected to the representations of sharp
inflection in the sound of Kiki. However, Gomez et al.[16][21] have shown that Kiki/Bouba associations are much richer as either
word and either image is associated semantically to a number of concepts such as white or black color, feminine vs. masculine,
cold vs. hot, and others. These sound-shape associations seem to be related through a large overlap between semantic networks of
Kiki and star-shape on one hand, and Bouba and round-shape on the other hand. For example, both Kiki and star-shape are clever,
small, thin and nervous. This indicates that behind Kiki-Bouba effect lies a rich semantic network. In other words, our sensory
experience is largely determined by the meaning that we assign to stimuli. Food description and wine tasting is another domain in
which ideasthetic association between flavor and other modalities such as shape
may play an important role.[22] These semantic-like relations play a role in
successful marketing; the name of a product should match its other
characteristics.[23]

Implications for development of

Which one would be called Bouba
synesthesia and which Kiki? Responses are
highly consistent among people. This
The concept of ideasthesia bears implications for understanding how synesthesia is an example of ideasthesia as the
develops in children. Synesthetic children may associate concrete sensory-like conceptualization of the stimulus
experiences primarily to the abstract concepts that they have otherwise plays an important role.
difficulties dealing with.[8] Synesthesia may thus be used as a cognitive tool to
cope with the abstractness of the learning materials imposed by the educational
system — referred to also as a "semantic vacuum hypothesis". This hypothesis explains why the most common inducers in
synesthesia are graphemes and time units — both relating to the first truly abstract ideas that a child needs to master.[24]

Implications for art theory

The concept of ideasthesia has been often discussed in relation to art,[25][26][27][28][29] and also used to formulate a psychological
theory of art.[30] According to the theory, we consider something to be a piece of art when experiences induced by the piece are
accurately balanced with semantics induced by the same piece. Thus, a piece of art makes us both strongly think and strongly
experience. Moreover, the two must be perfectly balanced such that the most salient stimulus or event is both the one that evokes
strongest experiences (fear, joy, ... ) and strongest cognition (recall, memory, ...) — in other words, idea is well balanced with
aesthesia.

Ideasthesia theory of art may be used for psychological studies of aesthetics. It may also help explain classificatory disputes about
art as its main tenet is that experience of art can only be individual, depending on person's unique knowledge, experiences and
history.[30] There could exist no general classification of art satisfactorily applicable to each and all individuals.

Neurophysiology of ideasthesia
Ideasthesia is congruent with the theory of brain functioning known as practopoiesis.[31]. According to that theory, concepts are
not an emergent property of highly developed, specialized neuronal networks in the brain, as is usually assumed; rather, concepts
are proposed to be fundamental to the very adaptive principles by which living systems and the brain operate.[32]

See also
Aesthetics
Charles Bonnet syndrome
Classificatory disputes about art
Consciousness
Explanatory gap
Mind–body problem
New Mysterianism
Perception
Phantom eye syndrome
Phantom limb
Philosophical zombie
Practopoiesis
 Qualia
Sentience
Synesthesia

References
1. Nikolić, D. (2009) Is synaesthesia actually ideaesthesia? An inquiry into the nature of the phenomenon.
Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Synaesthesia, Science & Art, Granada, Spain, April 26–29,
2009.
2. Dixon, M.J., Smilek, D., Duffy, P.L., Zanna, P. M., Merikle, P. M. (2006) The Role of Meaning in Grapheme-Colour
Synaesthesia, Cortex 42: 243-252.
3. Mroczko A., T. Metzinger, W. Singer, D. Nikolić (2009) Immediate transfer of synesthesia to a novel inducer.
Journal of Vision, 9: 2521-2528.
4. Simner, J.; Ward, J. (2006) The taste of words on the tip of the tongue, Nature 444: 438.
5. Nikolić, D., U.M. Jürgens, N. Rothen, B. Meier, A. Mroczko (2011) Swimming-style synesthesia. Cortex,
47(7):874-879.
6. Chiou, R., Rich N.A. (2014) The role of conceptual knowledge in understanding synaesthesia: Evaluating
contemporary findings from a ‘hub-and-spoke’perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 5: 105.
7. Curwen, C. (2018). Music-colour synaesthesia: Concept, context and qualia. Consciousness and Cognition, 61,
94-106.
8. Mroczko-Wąsowicz, A., Nikolić D. (2014) Semantic mechanisms may be responsible for developing synesthesia.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8:509. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00509
9. Jürgens U.M., Nikolić D. (2012) Ideaesthesia: Conceptual processes assign similar colours to similar shapes.
Translational Neuroscience, 3(1): 22-27.
10. Mroczko-Wąsowicz, Aleksandra, and Markus Werning. Synesthesia, sensory-motor contingency, and semantic
emulation: how swimming style-color synesthesia challenges the traditional view of synesthesia. Frontiers in
Psychology 3 (2012).
11. Jarrett, C. (2014). Great myths of the brain. John Wiley & Sons.
12. Weaver, D.F., Hawco C.L.A. (2015) Geminate consonant grapheme-colour synaesthesia (ideaesthesia). BMC
Neurology, 15:112.
13. Itoh, K., Sakata, H., Kwee, I. L., & Nakada, T. (2017). Musical pitch classes have rainbow hues in pitch class-
color synesthesia. Scientific reports, 7(1), 17781.
14. Hoshi, H., Kwon, N., Akita, K., & Auracher, J. (2019). Semantic Associations Dominate Over Perceptual
Associations in Vowel–Size Iconicity. i-Perception, 10(4), 2041669519861981.
15. Kirschner, A., & Nikolić, D. (2017). One-shot synesthesia. Translational Neuroscience, 8(1), 167-175.
16. Gómez Milán, E., Iborra, O., de Córdoba, M.J., Juárez-Ramos V., Rodríguez Artacho, M.A., Rubio, J.L. (2013)
The Kiki-Bouba effect: A case of personification and ideaesthesia. The Journal of Consciousness Studies. 20(1-
2): pp. 84-102.
17. Shukla, A. (2016). The Kiki-Bouba paradigm: Where senses meet and greet. Indian Journal of Mental Health,
3(3), 240-252.
18. De Carolis, L., Marsico, E., Arnaud, V., & Coupé, C. (2018). Assessing sound symbolism: Investigating phonetic
forms, visual shapes and letter fonts in an implicit bouba-kiki experimental paradigm. PloS one, 13(12),
e0208874.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0208874
19. Köhler, W (1929). Gestalt Psychology. New York: Liveright.
20. Ramachandran, VS & Hubbard, EM (2001) Synaesthesia: A window into perception, thought and language.
Journal of Consciousness Studies 8(12): 3–34.
21. Milán, Emilio Gómez, Oscar Iborra Martínez, and María José de Córdoba Serrano. El Universo Kiki-Bouba:
Ideaestesia, Empatía y Neuromárketing. Fundación Internacional artecittà, 2014.
22. Spence, Charles, and Ophelia Deroy. On the shapes of flavours: A review of four hypotheses. Theoria et Historia
Scientiarum 10 (2014): 207-238.
23. Bridger, D. (2015). Decoding the irrational consumer: How to commission, run and generate insights from
neuromarketing research. Kogan Page Publishers.
24. Rapp, B., & Caramazza, A. (1997). From graphemes to abstract letter shapes: levels of representation in written
spelling. Journal of experimental psychology: human perception and performance, 23(4), 1130.
25. Gsöllpointner, Katharina. "DIE KUNST DER SINNE–DIE SINNE DER KUNST." Exploring Cybernetics: Kybernetik
im interdisziplinären Diskurs (2015): 137-165.
26. Albertazzi, Liliana, et al. "The hue of angles—was Kandinsky right?." Art & Perception 3.1 (2015): 81-92.
27. Mărginaş, Raluca. "The Spurious Case of Synesthesia in the Popular Arts." Ekphrasis 1 (2012): 144-151.
28. Johnson, A. (2017). Hendrick ter Brugghen's Musicians and the Engagement of the Viewer. Temple University.
29. Prendergast, J. (2018). Grinding the moor–ideasthesia and narrative. New Writing, 1-17.
30. Nikolić D. (2016) Ideasthesia and art. In: Gsöllpointner, Katharina, et al. (eds.). 2016. Digital Synesthesia. A
Model for the Aesthetics of Digital Art. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter (http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/print/11666)
31. van Leeuwen, T. M., Singer, W., & Nikolić, D. (2015) The merit of synesthesia for consciousness research.
Frontiers in psychology, 6, 1850.
32. Nikolić, D. (2015). Practopoiesis: Or how life fosters a mind. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 373, 40-61.

External links
TED Ed video (http://ed.ted.com/lessons/ideasthesia-how-do-ideas-feel-danko-nikolic) explaining ideasthesia
Danko Nikolić's website on Ideasthesia (http://www.danko-nikolic.com/synesthesia-ideasthesia/)
Swimming-style synesthesia (https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20182-ideas-conjure-up-colour-for-swimmin
g-synaesthete.html) described by New Scientist
Audio Criticism & Ideasthesia (https://depaul.digication.com/the_future_of_museums/Michelle_Mustin_Super_Un
titled_Audio_Criticism_and)
A YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0hHSa3Lpxw) of a lecture on ideasthesia at
SoundThinking conference
Ideasthesia (http://www.somarts.org/ideasthesia/): A Multisensory Installation
Totem And Token (https://medium.com/@TotemAndToken/ideasthesia-art-genius-insanity-and-semiotics-7fff1896
34e2) on ideasthesia

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