Why study synesthesia? What can that teach us about ourselves?

This essay describes the results of the author’s projects of studying synaesthesia in Spain (University of Granada). It outlines several surveys of potential synaesthetes and possible relations of synaesthesia, creativity and types of “sensory representation”/ intelligence. The author provides her own original definition of “natural synaesthesia” as multi-modal thinking actualized through diffuse perception and polyphonic attention. Such an understanding emphasises the importance of constant philosophical reconsideration of synaesthesia and an interdisciplinary approach to researching the phenomenon. One of the major conclusions made in this essay is that synaesthesia is embedded in the multiple and multilevel processes of the unconscious that constitute both thinking and creativity. Which in turn might mean that perception could be explained through synesthesia and not the other way around, with subsequent revision of the theories of cognitive processes in psychology and neurosciences. The described results lay the foundations for the author’s synaesthesia-based applied methodologies in art education that are aimed to raise awareness of unusual perception among potential synaesthetes and enhance holistic creative thinking of the students through the multi-sensory aspects that they can further include into their own projects

Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Synesthesia

SummarySynesthesia is a condition in which stimulation of one sensory modality causes unusual experiences in a second, unstimulated modality. Although long treated as a curiosity, recent research with a combination of phenomenological, behavioral, and neuroimaging methods has begun to identify the cognitive and neural basis of synesthesia. Here, we review this literature with an emphasis on grapheme-color synesthesia, in which viewing letters and numbers induces the perception of colors. We discuss both the substantial progress that has been made in the past fifteen years and some open questions. In particular, we focus on debates in the field relating to the neural basis of synesthesia, including the relationship between synesthesia and attention and the role of meaning in synesthetic colors. We propose that some, but probably not all, of these differences can be accounted for by differences in the synesthetes studied and discuss some methodological implications of these individual differences

Synesthesia on Our Mind

Synesthesia in perception and metaphor in language both provide waysto categorize and comprehend the world. Both operate through mechanisms thatcapitalize on the creation or discovery of links across disparate domains – notably,sensory experiences in different modalities, with cross-modal correspondencesserving as perceptual links in synesthesia and as conceptual links in metaphor.The perceptual links in synesthesia are typically fixed and rigid. The conceptual linksin metaphor, however, enable meanings to expand, creatively, through the activeconstruction of novel, emergent relations: Metaphors transform meanings, therebytranscending the fixed correspondences of synesthesia. Recent evidence associatesthe presence of synesthesia with an augmented capacity for creative cognition.Other evidence associates synesthesia with neural hyperconnectivity – augmentedconnectivity between regions of the cerebral cortex that process the synestheticallylinked domains. We suggest that mechanisms underlying synesthesia may also playa role in processes that foster creative transformations of meanings in metaphor

Multi-Sensory Interaction for Blind and Visually Impaired People

This book conveyed the visual elements of artwork to the visually impaired through various sensory elements to open a new perspective for appreciating visual artwork. In addition, the technique of expressing a color code by integrating patterns, temperatures, scents, music, and vibrations was explored, and future research topics were presented. A holistic experience using multi-sensory interaction acquired by people with visual impairment was provided to convey the meaning and contents of the work through rich multi-sensory appreciation. A method that allows people with visual impairments to engage in artwork using a variety of senses, including touch, temperature, tactile pattern, and sound, helps them to appreciate artwork at a deeper level than can be achieved with hearing or touch alone. The development of such art appreciation aids for the visually impaired will ultimately improve their cultural enjoyment and strengthen their access to culture and the arts. The development of this new concept aids ultimately expands opportunities for the non-visually impaired as well as the visually impaired to enjoy works of art and breaks down the boundaries between the disabled and the non-disabled in the field of culture and arts through continuous efforts to enhance accessibility. In addition, the developed multi-sensory expression and delivery tool can be used as an educational tool to increase product and artwork accessibility and usability through multi-modal interaction. Training the multi-sensory experiences introduced in this book may lead to more vivid visual imageries or seeing with the mind’s eye

Sounds from seeing silent motion: Who hears them, and what looks loudest?

Some people hear what they see: car indicator lights, flashing neon shop signs, and people’s movements as they walk may all trigger an auditory sensation, which we call the visual-evoked auditory response (vEAR or ‘visual ear’). We have conducted the first large-scale online survey (N>4000) of this little-known phenomenon. We analysed the prevalence of vEAR, what induces it, and what other traits are associated with it. We asked respondents if they had previously experienced vEAR. Participants then rated silent videos for vividness of evoked auditory sensations, and answered additional questions. Prevalence appeared higher relative to other typical synaesthesias. Prior awareness and video ratings were associated with greater frequency of other synaesthesias, including flashes evoked by sounds, and musical imagery. Higher-rated videos often depicted meaningful events that predicted sounds (e.g. collisions). However, ratings were also driven by the low-level ‘motion energy’ of non-predictive flashing or moving patterns, specifically in respondents who had previous awareness of vEAR. Our motion energy analysis suggests that signals from visual motion processing may affect audition relatively directly, without requiring higher-level interpretative processes. While some popular explanations of synaesthesia assume rare and specific patterns of brain hyper-connectivity, the apparently high prevalence of vEAR, and its broad association with other synaesthesias and traits, are consistent with a common dependence on normal variations in physiological mechanisms of disinhibition or excitability of sensory brain areas and their functional connectivity, rather than just on specific patterns of hyper-connectivity. The prevalence of vEAR makes it easier to test such hypotheses further, and makes the results more relevant to understanding not only synaesthetic anomalies but also normal perception

Metaphor and Senses

The book deals with the synesthetic metaphors in Synamet – a semantically and grammatically annotated corpus. The texts included in the corpus are excerpted from blogs devoted to, among others, perfume, wine, beer, music, art, massage and wellness. The thesis presents a Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and frame-based analysis of synesthetic metaphors in Polish. Using data from the corpus, the book provides ample empirical support for embodiment in metaphor and internal logic of mappings between frames. The study proposes new models of verbal synesthesia in the corpus and calls into question a universality of hierarchy of senses. This book should be of interest to researchers working within cognitive linguistics, in particular metaphor theory, frame semantics, corpus linguistics, and sensory science

An Examination of Musical Pitch/Color Correspondence in Music, Arts, And Non-arts Students and Adults

Chromesthesia is the involuntary combination of a visual color response to a musical stimulus. Previous research has associated the presence of absolute pitch with color responses to musical pitch; however, recent studies indicated that color associations were also made amongst those who did not possess absolute pitch. Eighty-four participants to various extent and of varying ages representing backgrounds in music and in arts (as well as those with neither background) took part in a series of experiments to determine if a color/music pitch connection was prevalent in their responses. Additionally, participants were tested individually regarding the presence of consistent visual color associations when applied to musical pitch as well as the presence of consistent musical pitch associations when applied to visual color. The results of this research indicated that while these color associations were not wholly universal, there were certain systemic similarities for many of these colors and musical pitches. The application of these similarities might prove successful in any number of diverse musical settings