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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...

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Related Experiment Video

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Training Synesthetic Letter-color Associations by Reading in Color

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Published on: February 20, 2014

Inside a synesthete's head: a functional connectivity analysis with grapheme-color synesthetes.

C Sinke¹, J Neufeld, H M Emrich

¹Clinic for Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hanover, Germany. christopher.sinke@gmail.com

Neuropsychologia

|September 25, 2012

Summary

Grapheme-color synesthesia involves letters perceived with color. This study found altered brain connectivity in synesthetes, particularly in the parietal lobe and visual cortex, suggesting a broader network than previously understood.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
Psychology

Background:

Grapheme-color synesthesia is a neurological condition where individuals perceive letters or numbers with associated colors.
Existing models suggest involvement of higher-level visual and association areas in synesthesia.

Purpose of the Study:

To identify brain regions and analyze functional connectivity associated with grapheme-color synesthesia.
To investigate the neural underpinnings of the synesthetic experience using fMRI.

Main Methods:

Event-related fMRI was used to compare brain activation and functional connectivity in 18 synesthetes and 18 controls.
Stimuli included letters and pseudo-letters presented in black and color.
Beta series correlation analysis was employed to assess functional connectivity between identified regions of interest.

Main Results:

Activation differences were observed in the left and right inferior parietal lobule (IPL, BA7), right BA 18, and BA 40 between synesthetes and controls.
Synesthetes showed increased functional connectivity between the left IPL and primary/secondary visual areas (BA 18).
Enhanced connectivity was also noted between the right BA 7 and visual areas (BA 18) in synesthetes.

Conclusions:

The parietal lobe plays a significant role in grapheme-color synesthesia.
Information flow in synesthetes is modulated earlier than previously thought, potentially at the primary visual cortex level.
Current models need refinement to include a more extended neural network involved in synesthetic experiences.