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Synesthesia

Synesthesia

Synesthesia is a remarkable condition where stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People with synesthesia experience a blending or crossing of their senses, such as sight and sound, leading to cross-modal sensations. In this condition, the stimulation of one sense, such as hearing a number or musical note, triggers an experience of another sense, like sensing a specific color, taste, or smell. People...

Vision

Vision

Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.

Color Vision

Color Vision

Color perception begins in the retina, the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye. Two main theories explain how colors are seen: the trichromatic theory and the opponent-process theory. The trichromatic theory, proposed by Thomas Young in 1802 and extended by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1852, suggests that color vision is based on three types of cone receptors in the retina. These cones are sensitive to different but overlapping ranges of wavelengths corresponding to red, blue, and green.

Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System

Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System

The somatosensory system is the central and peripheral nervous system component that senses and processes touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and body position or proprioception. The process of sensation takes place at three levels:
The receptor level:
The receptor level is the first stage of sensation. It involves the detection of a stimulus by specialized sensory receptors. The stimulus must arrive within the receptor's receptive field. Next, the receptor converts the energy of the stimulus...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 2, 2026

Stimulus-specific Cortical Visual Evoked Potential Morphological Patterns

Stimulus-specific Cortical Visual Evoked Potential Morphological Patterns

Published on: May 12, 2019

Differences in early sensory-perceptual processing in synesthesia: a visual evoked potential study.

Kylie J Barnett¹, John J Foxe, Sophie Molholm

¹Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN), Lloyd Building, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.

|August 30, 2008

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Synesthesia may involve fundamental sensory-perceptual processing differences. Researchers found early visual evoked potential (VEP) distinctions in synesthetes, suggesting altered magnocellular and parvocellular pathway function.

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Stimulus-specific Cortical Visual Evoked Potential Morphological Patterns

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Published on: July 1, 2016

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Sensory Perception
Cognitive Science

Background:

Synesthesia involves cross-activation between sensory areas, but underlying neural mechanisms and broader visual system differences remain unclear.
Previous research focused on specific synesthetic experiences, neglecting overall visual processing integrity.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate fundamental differences in sensory-perceptual processing in synesthesia.
To assess whether synesthesia is associated with wider variations in visual system function beyond direct synesthetic experiences.

Main Methods:

Utilized high-density 128-channel electroencephalography (EEG) to measure sensory-perceptual processing.
Presented stimuli (gratings, luminance-contrast squares) designed to differentially activate magnocellular and parvocellular visual pathways.
Compared responses between 15 synesthetes and 15 non-synesthete controls.

Main Results:

Reported novel, early sensory-perceptual differences in synesthetes compared to controls.
Observed distinct visual evoked potential (VEP) responses to stimuli targeting both magnocellular and parvocellular pathways.
These differences were opposite in direction, indicating a differential impact on the two visual pathways.

Conclusions:

Synesthesia may be associated with widespread connectivity differences, representing a broader phenotype.
Early-stage visual processing, including magnocellular and parvocellular pathway function, appears altered in synesthetes.
These findings challenge previous assumptions and open new avenues for understanding synesthesia's neural basis.