Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

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...

Cognitive Learning

Cognitive Learning

Cognitive learning is based on purposive behavior, incidental learning, and insight learning.
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...

Sensory Modalities

Sensory Modalities

Sensation typically is the process by which the sensory receptors and sense organs detect stimuli from the internal and external environment and transmit this information to the central nervous system for processing.
General senses refer to the broad category of sensory information detected by receptors in the body and can be further grouped into somatic and visceral senses. Somatic sensations include touch, pressure, temperature, and pain and are essential for navigating our environment and...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Absolute pitch and sound-color synesthesia provide for unique learning opportunities.

Consciousness and cognition·2026

Same author

Test-retest reliability analysis of resting-state EEG measures and their association with long-term memory in children and adults.

Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)·2026

Same author

Task switching hurts memory in adults but not in children.

Acta psychologica·2026

Same author

Correction: Spacing, feedback, and testing boost vocabulary learning in a web application.

Frontiers in psychology·2025

Same author

Levels of Processing Effects on Memory for Color-Object Associations.

Journal of cognition·2025

Same author

Correlates of implicit semantic processing as revealed by representational similarity analysis applied to EEG.

iScience·2024

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 2, 2026

Training Synesthetic Letter-color Associations by Reading in Color

Training Synesthetic Letter-color Associations by Reading in Color

Published on: February 20, 2014

Acquiring synaesthesia: insights from training studies.

Nicolas Rothen¹, Beat Meier²

¹Department of Psychology and Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, University of Sussex Brighton, UK.

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

|March 14, 2014

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Synaesthesia, a condition with unique sensory experiences, may be acquired through learning. This review suggests that specific training can induce synaesthetic associations in individuals without the condition.

Keywords:

acquiring control definition development learning synaesthesia training

More Related Videos

Combined Shuttle-Box Training with Electrophysiological Cortex Recording and Stimulation as a Tool to Study Perception and Learning

Combined Shuttle-Box Training with Electrophysiological Cortex Recording and Stimulation as a Tool to Study Perception and Learning

Published on: October 22, 2015

Stereoacuity Improvement using Random-Dot Video Games

Stereoacuity Improvement using Random-Dot Video Games

Published on: January 14, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 2, 2026

Training Synesthetic Letter-color Associations by Reading in Color

Training Synesthetic Letter-color Associations by Reading in Color

Published on: February 20, 2014

Combined Shuttle-Box Training with Electrophysiological Cortex Recording and Stimulation as a Tool to Study Perception and Learning

Combined Shuttle-Box Training with Electrophysiological Cortex Recording and Stimulation as a Tool to Study Perception and Learning

Published on: October 22, 2015

Stereoacuity Improvement using Random-Dot Video Games

Stereoacuity Improvement using Random-Dot Video Games

Published on: January 14, 2020

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Psychology
Cognitive Science

Background:

Synaesthesia involves additional sensory experiences in response to normal stimuli.
It is often considered congenital, with genetic and neural bases.
However, synaesthetic associations can be linked to prior experiences and learning.

Purpose of the Study:

To review developmental aspects of synaesthesia.
To examine associative training procedures in non-synaesthetes.
To determine if synaesthesia can be acquired through learning.

Main Methods:

Comprehensive literature review.
Analysis of developmental and training studies.
Evaluation of synaesthesia definition and learning mechanisms.

Main Results:

Synaesthetic experiences are triggered by conceptual representations.
Associative learning plays a role in developing specific synaesthetic associations.
Evidence suggests that synaesthesia can be learned via training.

Conclusions:

Synaesthesia is not exclusively congenital.
Associative learning is a key mechanism in synaesthesia development.
Appropriate training procedures can potentially induce synaesthetic experiences.