Emily Cunningham Psychology Project |
Synesthesia
syn·es·the·sia
sinəsˈTHēZHə/
Synesthesia
Emily Cunningham
Introduction
Derived from the greek words syn meaning together, and aisthesis meaning perception, synesthesia is the perception of two or more senses simultaneously in response to the same stimulus. Synesthesia also refers to when a person joins an object or idea, like numbers or letters, with a sense, such as color or smell (2). There are many possible theories that interpret this anomaly and it is probable that the cause is a combination of many theories. There is also a large range of different types of synesthesia. Every synesthete's expierence is unique and particular to them, and there are some patterns to the types of people that have this condition. Various psychologists are conducting an array of different experiments and are reseaching this occurance in attempt to increase knowledge about synesthsesia. Synestheisa is everywhere around us from art to music even though we may not notice or recognize it at first glance.
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Hank Green explains a little bit about this phenomenon in a nifty video (1)
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Possible Causes and Theories
Very little is known about the cause of this condition, though there are many theories that attempt to explain how synesthesia occurs. One theory involves the idea that new neural connections cause the usual boundaries between senses the breakdown. Instead of the senses in the brain being seperated as they are in the average human, there is an interaction between two or more senses (1). In another theory, proposed by Peter Grossenbacher, synesthete's brains "feed-backward connections that carry information from high-level multisensory areas of the brain back to single sense areas are not properly inhibited" (3). This theory, called Cortical Disinhibited Feedback Theory of Synesthesia, indicates that normal brain paths and connections are just used abnormally to cause the experience that synesthetes have (7). Another explanation is that everyone is born with their senses intertwined and as babies grow and mature, the senses become distinct and defined. Synesthetes's senses may not become seperated and remain joined allowing them to experience the world as they do (1). A more abstract approach suggests that everyone possesses the capability to have the perception of mixed senses, but this ability is veiled and masked from conscious awareness and only when it becomes unmasked will the individual experience the sensation (1). There is minimal debate to whether synesthesia could possibly be due to "environmental influences, such as colored-letter toys in infancy" (6), but most psychologists agree that synesthesia is due largely to genetics. Determining which parts of the brain are involved in synesthesia is also very important. There is some research that points to the limbic system as being involved and also the cerebral cortex has research to suggest that it is also involved (2). Though currently scientists lack sufficient technology to test any of these theories in depth (1), it can be agreed that synesthesia is "biological, automatic, and apparently unlearned"(3).
Types
In general, there are two main types of synesthesia, projection and association. Projecter synesthetes see the perceived sense, such as a color, outside of their body and infront of their eyes. Association synesthetes, on the other hand, perceive the sense in their "mind's eye" (1). Further, perceptual synesthetes's experience is triggered by actual stimuli occuring in the real world such as hearing a sound, and conceptual synesthetes's experiences are in response to ideas or concepts like numbers or time (1). Associations between senses are very stable, do not change, and require no conscious effort to make them (4). There is a variety of different types of synesthesia including but not limited to grapheme-color, chromesthesia, spatial sequence, number form, ordinal linguistic personification, and lexical-gustatory(8).
Grapheme-color synesthesia is one of the most common forms, and is categorized as when concepts such as letters and/or numbers are associated with having a color or possibly a pattern (4). Each grapheme-color synesthete's color is different from their fellow synesthete's, for example one person may say that "5" is green where another will say that "5" is definitely orange(9).
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Kaitlyn Hova produces a video that mimics the experience of a chromesthete (4)
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Chromesthesia is "sound to color" synesthesia, music and sounds have their own colors that are experienced by the synesthete (10). Chromesthesia may also be referred to as auditory synesthesia. To the left is a video attempting to show what it is like in a chromesthete's mind when they hear music.
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Spatial sequence is a type of synesthesia where people "perceive numbered sequences as visual patterns" (11). The days of the week may occupy spaces in front of the individual or the months of the year are in a circle, surrounding the individual (11).
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Number Form synesthesia refers to having a mental map of numbers in one's brain (12). A person have a map of years or the numbers may be mapped out in a way similar to a time line. This may help synesthetes that have number form synesthesia remember dates or things such as phone numbers (10). It is often a little difficult for a person to explain their own mental map as it is an abstract concept and only exists in their "mind's eye".
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Those who have Ordinal Linguistic Personification, will associate numbers, letters, months, etc. as having distinct personalities. For example "A" might be a happy female letter or "7" might be a rude number. It has been found that those that have OLP often also have grapheme-color synesthesia(8).
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Associating a word with a taste is called Lexical-gustatory synesthesia and it is one of the most rare forms. The sensation can include not only taste, but temperature, texture, and location on the tongue (13). This association may help individuals remember things like names. For example, if the name "Madelyn" tasted like mac and cheese, the individual would see the person, remember their name tasting like mac and cheese and that taste leads them to remember the name "Madelyn".
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People
It's hard to get accurate statistics on how many people have synesthesia as many of those who do have it think that nothing is different about the way they experience the world. They have had it since they were young and so it is normal for them to think that words have a taste or sounds have a color (4). However, from the numbers that researchers do have, it was found that synesthetes are much more likely to be women (4) and left handed (2). Those who have synesthesia don't have any other neurological abnormalities(2). Also, the condition tends to run in families, which is evidence that synesthesia has a strong genetic factor (4). Researchers now are thinking that it might be a dominant trait on the X chromosome (2). Synesthetes tend to be more artistic and many of them say that their synesthesia helps them be more creative (4). Below are a couple of videos about people with synesthesia, explaining how their synesthesia works and how it is unique to them.
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Sanne talks about her spatial sequence synesthesia (8).
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Alex has grapheme-color synesthesia and explains on Numberphile a little bit about her personal experience with it (2).
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"Professor Funk" experiments what the Imperial March from Star Wars might taste like to a synesthete who experiences sounds as tastes (from the video it looks like the Imperial March tastes really gross)(9)
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Megan has a form of sound to touch synesthesia as well as two other types of synesthesia (10).
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Research
Minimal research of synesthesia was conducted in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but soon fell out of fashion because behaviorism was very popular at the time. Research started back up again and gained momentum around the 70s-80s, driven primarily by Larry Marks and Richard E. Cytowic (3). Richard Cytowic divised a list of characteristics that all synesthetes share to help define a little bit about what synesthesia is. The characteristics were that some of the experiences were to be involuntary, projected, durable and generic, memorable, and emotional. To be involuntary meant that there was no cognition needed for the joined perceptions to occur. To be projected meant that the individual saw the color/perception outside of the body. Perception must be consistant and the same every time and also not too complex. The synesthete's remembering of the associated perception better than the original stimul was a sign that the experience was memorable, and sometimes the perception would cause emotional responses (2). Synesthesia has gotten more and more attention from psychologists, especially in the last 20 years (5).
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Recently there was a study that attempted to "train" participants to associate colors with letters. The results of this study showed that the participants passed the usual tests that qualifies a person as having grapheme-color synesthesia. Participants also had a change in IQ, going up an average of 12 points. This study was not training people to become genuine synesthetes, but merely seeing if they could teach associations for a short period of time (6).
Other research consists of just trying to increase knowledge about synesthesia. If you are a synesthete and want to enter the synesthesia battery, click this button here! If you want to find out if you are a synesthete, complete this questionnaire here!
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Synesthesia in art and music
Artists who have synesthesia sometimes try to put their experiences on canvas, and musicians may have synethesia as a theme in their music. Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was a painter who may have had synesthesia, as many of his paintings were his interpretation of musical compositions (14). His unique use of color and design soon lead him to be regarded as the father of the abstract art movement (14). Some of his works are shown below.
Another artist who is a suspected synesthete is David Hockney. His vibrant palettes in his pieces suggest maybe influence by some type of color synesthesia. He once said "When I listened to the music, the tree just painted itself", hinting that music is a driving force in his paintings. Below are some of his works.
Synesthesia also makes an appearance in music, as some artists have music relating to synesthetic experiences.
Andrew McMahon's song "Synesthesia" portrays some ideas relating to chromesthesia as he is singing about how he sees colors when he hears a voice. Here are the lyrics of the chorus :
And I see colors when I hear your voice
Grab your wings, they're putting gravity on trial I see colors, I don't hear the noise Sometimes we're only flying for awhile I could love you in the falling rain, Grab your things this is a storm we're meant to ride Like synesthesia aboard a stalling plane It's like we're only flying for awhile, Flying for awhile |
Unfortunately, VEVO blocks their videos from being played on Weebly sites, so here is an Unofficial Music Video for Andrew McMahon's song "Synesthesia" (5). If you still want to watch the official music video, you can watch it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5xuL0zPvmk (3)
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Jamie Swarbeck's "Synesthesia" video (6)
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Jamie Swarbeck made a video to go along with the song "Icarus" by White Hinterland. This video pairs colors with music, and it's reminiscent of chromesthesia.
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Taylor Swift's "Red" may be a representation of emotion to color synesthesia as she compares different emotions to different colors.
Losing him was blue like I'd never known
Missing him was dark grey all alone Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met But loving him was red Loving him was red |
Also Taylor Swift's official music video is on the VEVO channel and will not play on Weebly sites but here is her singing Red live (11) The Official music video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH5sLnmS9TU (7)
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Conclusion
Some people may not believe that synesthesia is a real phenomenon because it is so subjective, but Richard Cytowic addresses this by proving that synesthesia is "brain based" (15). There is also some debate of whether synesthesia is caused by one's environment (for example a child playing with colored-letter toys), but most researchers agree that synesthesia is biological and innate (6). Again, most psychologists look at synesthesia as being primarily biological, but there are psychological and social aspects as well. For one, synesthetes may not speak out about their experiences because they do not want to be viewed as abnormal or weird by peers or society (1). Some may say that synesthetes just think the synesthetic experiences are happening but this has also been disproven as some fMRI scans have shown that the joint perceptions are happening; the parts of the brain used for whichever senses the individual reports feeling a sensation for shows activity. Synesthesia is a crazy phenomenon that almost sounds unreal to those who do not have it. Studying this condition may help researchers learn more about perception, the senses, and functions in the brain. I will leave you with a short film about vegetables full of sound, records that smell like colors, and a turkey comprised of words.
Synesthesia by Future Shorts (12)
Citations
Articles:
1. http://www.livescience.com/169-rare-real-people-feel-taste-hear-color.html
2. https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.html
3. http://www.apa.org/monitor/mar01/synesthesia.aspx
4. http://www.bu.edu/synesthesia/faq/
5. http://www.synesthesia.info/aboutus.html
6. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150413214343.htm
7. http://www.naropa.edu/academics/academic-resources/consciousness-lab/what-is-synesthesia.php
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
9. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-synesthesia/
10. http://synesthesia-test.com/
11. http://news.sciencemag.org/2009/12/mind-touches-past
12. http://www.synesthesiatest.org/types-of-synesthesia
13. http://www.spring.org.uk/2014/05/6-intriguing-types-of-synesthesia-tasting-words-seeing-sounds-hearing-colours-and-more.php
14. http://www.biography.com/people/wassily-kandinsky-9359941
15. https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/synesthesia
Photos:
1.http://www.photofurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/latest_wallpaper_of_beach.jpg
2. http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m108coCTyr1qmid3ko1_500.jpg
3. http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/185/2/4/synesthesia_chart_by_runeneko-d3l0e8r.png
4.http://www.jerkmagazine.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/CasadonteAndyNoiseSynesthesia.jpg
5. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/files/2010/04/synaesthesia.jpg
6. https://synesthesiaandsuch.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/f5366089-f46f-406e-b1d3-8c28ccec1df7_zps140d7f7e.jpg
7. http://jlim1131.web.unc.edu/files/2010/12/800px-Galton_number_form.svg_.png
8.http://www.synesthesiatest.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/SYNESTHESIA-300x100.jpg
9. http://bookofjoe.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/23taste_600lklk_2.jpg
10.https://quartervida.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/a117.jpg
11. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3414/4606619471_a5d8ba3040.jpg
12.http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/images/works/256.jpg
13. http://uploads8.wikiart.org/images/wassily-kandinsky/composition-vii-1913.jpg
14. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/kandinsky/kandinsky.comp-8.jpg
15. http://www.hockneypictures.com/exhibitions/pace09/09A11-l.jpg
16. http://www.hockneypictures.com/images/3-works/1-paintings/80/large/sea_at_malibu_88_f.jpg
17. http://www.hockneypictures.com/images/3-works/1-paintings/80/large/80A34.jpg
Videos:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEqmNX8uKlA (Hearing Colors, Seeing Sounds: Synesthesia)
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNy23tJMTzQ (Synesthesia - Numberphile)
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfm1Gvlz12U (Andrew McMahon - Synesthesia)
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI4DpHnbX_Q (Epic Violinist Kaitlyn Hova: Auditory Synesthesia)
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5xuL0zPvmk (Andrew Mcmahon - Synesthesia (Unofficial Music Video))
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am6700eT8gs (Synesthesia [by Jamie Swarbeck])
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlot0i3Zykw (Taylor Swift - Red)
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsBJm3M91Ls (Synesthesia.)
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e8zAWt_TnI (The Taste of Music)
10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0ZA66YxhXA (Synesthesia, do you have it?)
11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH5sLnmS9TU (OFF LIVE - Taylor Swift "Red" Live On The Seine, Paris)
12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHnnGHgeyC0 (Synesthesia [by Future Shorts])
Articles:
1. http://www.livescience.com/169-rare-real-people-feel-taste-hear-color.html
2. https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.html
3. http://www.apa.org/monitor/mar01/synesthesia.aspx
4. http://www.bu.edu/synesthesia/faq/
5. http://www.synesthesia.info/aboutus.html
6. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150413214343.htm
7. http://www.naropa.edu/academics/academic-resources/consciousness-lab/what-is-synesthesia.php
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
9. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-synesthesia/
10. http://synesthesia-test.com/
11. http://news.sciencemag.org/2009/12/mind-touches-past
12. http://www.synesthesiatest.org/types-of-synesthesia
13. http://www.spring.org.uk/2014/05/6-intriguing-types-of-synesthesia-tasting-words-seeing-sounds-hearing-colours-and-more.php
14. http://www.biography.com/people/wassily-kandinsky-9359941
15. https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/synesthesia
Photos:
1.http://www.photofurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/latest_wallpaper_of_beach.jpg
2. http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m108coCTyr1qmid3ko1_500.jpg
3. http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/185/2/4/synesthesia_chart_by_runeneko-d3l0e8r.png
4.http://www.jerkmagazine.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/CasadonteAndyNoiseSynesthesia.jpg
5. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/files/2010/04/synaesthesia.jpg
6. https://synesthesiaandsuch.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/f5366089-f46f-406e-b1d3-8c28ccec1df7_zps140d7f7e.jpg
7. http://jlim1131.web.unc.edu/files/2010/12/800px-Galton_number_form.svg_.png
8.http://www.synesthesiatest.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/SYNESTHESIA-300x100.jpg
9. http://bookofjoe.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/23taste_600lklk_2.jpg
10.https://quartervida.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/a117.jpg
11. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3414/4606619471_a5d8ba3040.jpg
12.http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/images/works/256.jpg
13. http://uploads8.wikiart.org/images/wassily-kandinsky/composition-vii-1913.jpg
14. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/kandinsky/kandinsky.comp-8.jpg
15. http://www.hockneypictures.com/exhibitions/pace09/09A11-l.jpg
16. http://www.hockneypictures.com/images/3-works/1-paintings/80/large/sea_at_malibu_88_f.jpg
17. http://www.hockneypictures.com/images/3-works/1-paintings/80/large/80A34.jpg
Videos:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEqmNX8uKlA (Hearing Colors, Seeing Sounds: Synesthesia)
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNy23tJMTzQ (Synesthesia - Numberphile)
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfm1Gvlz12U (Andrew McMahon - Synesthesia)
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI4DpHnbX_Q (Epic Violinist Kaitlyn Hova: Auditory Synesthesia)
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5xuL0zPvmk (Andrew Mcmahon - Synesthesia (Unofficial Music Video))
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am6700eT8gs (Synesthesia [by Jamie Swarbeck])
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlot0i3Zykw (Taylor Swift - Red)
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsBJm3M91Ls (Synesthesia.)
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e8zAWt_TnI (The Taste of Music)
10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0ZA66YxhXA (Synesthesia, do you have it?)
11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH5sLnmS9TU (OFF LIVE - Taylor Swift "Red" Live On The Seine, Paris)
12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHnnGHgeyC0 (Synesthesia [by Future Shorts])